Daily Strength 

FOR 

Daily Needs. 



u As thy days, so shall thy strength be." 



SMtcteU bg tide fStrttnr of "©met Sours." 



BOSTON: 
ROBERTS BROTHERS. 
1891. 




Copyright, 1884, 
BY Mary W, Tileston 



48 65 5 5 

JUL 1 7 1942 



SEmforsttg tyxess : 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U. S. A. 



PREFACE. 



HIS little book of brief selections in 



prose and verse, with accompanying 
texts of Scripture, is intended for a daily 
companion and counsellor. These words 
of the goodly fellowship of wise and holy 
men of many times, it is hoped may help to 
strengthen the reader to perform the duties 
and to bear the burdens of each day with 
cheerfulness and courage. 




M. W. T. 



January 1. 



i 



They go from strength to strength. — Ps. lxxxiv. 7. 
First the blade, then the ear, after that the full 
corn in the ear. — Mark iv, 28. 

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, 

As the swift seasons roll ! 

Leave thy low-vaulted past ! 
Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, 

Till thou at length art free, 
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea ! 

O. W. Holmes. 

11JIGH hearts are never long without hearing 
some new call, some distant clarion of 
God, even in their dreams ; and soon they are 
observed to break up the camp of ease, and start 
on some fresh march of faithful service. And, 
looking higher still, we find those who never 
wait till their moral work accumulates, and who 
reward resolution with no rest ; with whom, there- 
fore, the alternation is instantaneous and con- 
stant ; who do the good only to see the better, 
and see the better only to achieve it ; who are 
too meek for transport, too faithful for remorse, 
too earnest for repose ; whose worship is action, 
and whose action ceaseless aspiration. 

J. Martineau. 



2 



January 2. 



The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy 
coming iii from this time forth, and even for ever- 
more. — Ps. cxxi. 8. 

Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all 
generations. — Ps. xc. i. 

With grateful hearts the past we own ; 
The future, all to us unknown, 
We to Thy guardian care commit, 
And peaceful leave before Thy feet. 

P. Doddridge. 

V\ 7E are like to Him with whom there is no 
past or future, with whom a day is as a 
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, 
when we do our work in the great present, leav- 
ing both past and future to Him to whom they 
are ever present, and fearing nothing, because He 
is in our future as much as He is in our past, as 
much as, and far more than, we can feel Him to 
be in our present. Partakers thus of the divine 
nature, resting in that perfect All-in-all in whom 
our nature is eternal too, we walk without fear, 
full of hope and courage and strength to do His 
will, waiting for the endless good which He is 
always giving as fast as He can get us able to 
take it in. 

G. MacDonald. 



January 3. 



3 



As thy days, so shall thy strength be. — Deut. 
xxxiii. 25. 

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. — 
Matt. vi. 34. 

Oh, ask not thou, How shall I bear 

The burden of to-morrow ? 
Sufficient for to-day, its care, 

Its evil and its sorrow ; 
God imparteth by the way 
Strength sufficient for the day. 

J. E. Saxby. 

1L_TE that hath so many causes of joy, and so 
great, is very much in love with sorrow 
and peevishness, who loses all these pleasures, 
and chooses to sit down upon his little handful 
of thorns. Enjoy the blessings of this day, if 
God sends them ; and the evils of it bear pa- 
tiently and sweetly : for this day is only ours, we 
are dead to yesterday, and we are not yet born 
to the morrow. But if we look abroad, and bring 
into one day's thoughts the evil of many, certain 
and uncertain, what will be and what will never 
be, our load will be as intolerable as it is unrea- 
sonable. 

Jeremy Taylor. 



4 



January 4. 



If we sin, we are Thine, knowing Thy power : 
but we will not sin. knowing that we are counted 
Thine. For to know Thee is perfect righteousness : 
yea, to know Thy power is the root of immor- 
tality. — Wisdom of Solomon xv. 2, 3. 



Oh, empty us of self, the world, and sin, 

And then in all Thy fulness enter in ; 

Take full possession, Lord, and let each thought 

Into obedience unto Thee be brought ; 

Thine is the power, and Thine the will, that we 

Be wholly sanctified, O Lord, to Thee. 

C. E. J. 

r I A AKE steadily some one sin, which seems to 
stand out before thee, to root it out, by 
God's grace, and every fibre of it. Purpose 
strongly, by the grace and strength of God, 
wholly to sacrifice this sin or sinful inclination to 
the love of God, to spare it not, until thou leave 
of it none remaining, neither root nor branch. 

Fix, by God's help, not only to root out this 
sin, but to set thyself to gain, by that same help, 
the opposite grace. If thou art tempted to be 
angry, try hard, by God's grace, to be very meek \ 
if to be proud, seek to be very humble. 

E. B. Pusfy 



January 5. 



5 



That He might present it to Himself a glorious 
church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such 
thing, but that it shotild be holy and withoiit 
blemish. — Eph. v. 27. 

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual 
house. — 1 Peter ii. 5. 

One holy Church of God appears 

Through every age and race, 
Unwasted by the lapse of years, 

Unchanged by changing place. 

S. Longfellow. 

A TEMPLE there has been upon earth, a 



spiritual Temple, made up of living stones ; 
a Temple, as I may say, composed of souls ; a 
Temple with God for its light, and Christ for the 
high priest ; with wings of angels for its arches, 
with saints and teachers for its pillars, and with 
worshippers for its pavement. Wherever there is 
faith and love, this Temple is. 



To whatever worlds He carries our souls when 
they shall pass out of these imprisoning bodies, 
in those worlds these souls of ours shall find 
themselves part of the same great Temple ; for 
it belongs not to this earth alone. There can be 
no end of the universe where God is, to which 
that growing Temple does not reach, — the Tem- 
ple of a creation to be wrought at last into a per- 
fect utterance of God by a perfect obedience to 




J. H. Newman. 



God. 



Phillips Brooks 



6 



January 6. 



In all ages entering into holy souls, she [Wis- 
dom] maketh them friends of God, and prophets, — 
Wisdom of Solomon vii. 27. 

Meanwhile with every son and saint of Thine 

Along the glorious line, 
Sitting by turns beneath Thy sacred feet 

We '11 hold communion sweet, 
Know them by look and voice, and thank them all 

For helping us in thrall, 
For words of hope, and bright examples given 
To shew through moonless skies that there is light in 

heaven ' J. Keble. 

TF we cannot live at once and alone with Him, 
^ we may at least live with those who have 
lived with Him ; and find, in our admiring love 
for their purity, their truth, their goodness, an 
intercession with His pity on our behalf. To 
study the lives, to meditate the sorrows, to com- 
mune with the thoughts, of the great and holy 
men and women of this rich world, . is a sacred 
discipline, which deserves at least to rank as the 
forecourt of the temple of true worship, and may 
train the tastes, ere we pass the very gate, of 
heaven. . . . We forfeit the chief source of dig- 
nity and sweetness in life, next to the direct com- 
munion with God, if we do not seek converse 
with the greater minds that have left their vestiges 
on the world. j Martineau. 

Do not think it wasted time to submit yourself 
to any influence which may bring upon you any 
noble feeling. 

J. Ruskin. 



January 7. 



7 



The exceeding greatness of His power to us- 
ward who believe, according to the working of His 
mighty power. — Eph. i. 19. 

The lives which seem so poor, so low, 

The hearts which are so cramped and dull, 

The baffled hopes, the impulse slow, 
Thou takest, tou chest all, and lo ! 

They blossom to the beautiful. 



ROOT set in the finest soil, in the best cli- 



mate, and blessed with all that sun and air 
and rain can do for it, is not in so sure a way of 
its growth to perfection, as every man may be, 
whose spirit aspires after all that which God is 
ready and infinitely desirous to give him. For 
the sun meets not the springing bud that stretches 
towards him with half that certainty, as God, the 
source of all good, communicates Himself to the 
soul that longs to partake of Him. 



If we stand in the openings of the present 
moment, with all the length and breadth of our 
faculties unselfishly adjusted to what it reveals, 
we are in the best condition to receive what God 
is always ready to communicate. 



Susan Coolidge. 




Wm, Law. 



T. C. Upham. 



s 



January 8. 



As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good 
unto all men. — Gal. vi. 10. 

Let brotherly love continue. — Heb. xiii. I. 

I ask Thee for a thoughtful love, 
Through constant watching wise, 

To meet the glad with joyful smiles, 
And to wipe the weeping eyes, 

And a heart at leisure from itself, 
To soothe and sympathize. 

A. L Waring. 

PURELY none are so full of cares, or so poor 
in gifts, that to them also, waiting patiently 
and trustfully on God for His daily commands, 
He will not give direct ministry for Him, increas- 
ing according to their strength and their desire. 
There is so much to be set right in the world, 
there are so many to be led and helped and 
comforted, that we must continually come in con- 
tact with such in our daily life. Let us only take 
care, that, by the glance being turned inward, or 
strained onward, or lost in vacant reverie, we do 
not miss our turn of service, and pass by those 
to whom we might have been sent on an errand 
straight from God. 

Elizabeth Charles. 

Look up and not down ; look forward and not 
back ; look out and not in ; and lend a hand. 

Edward E. Hale 



January 9. 



9 



And in every work that he began in the service 
of the house of Goo 7 , and in the law, and in the 
commandments i to seek his God, he did it with all 
his heart, and prospered. — 2 Chron. xxxi. 21. 

What shall we do, that we might work the works 
of God? — John vi. 28. 

Give me within the work which calls to-day, 
To see Thy finger gently beckoning on ; 

So struggle grows to freedom, work to play, 
And toils begun from Thee to Thee are done. 

J. F. Clarke. 



OD is a kind Father. He sets us all in the 



places where He wishes us to be employed ; 
and that employment is truly " our Father's busi- 
ness. " He chooses work for every creature wdiich 
will be delightful to them, if they do it simply and 
humbly. He gives us always strength enough, 
and sense enough, for w T hat He w T ants us to do ; 
if we either tire ourselves or puzzle ourselves, it 
is our own fault. And we may always be sure, 
whatever we are doing, that we cannot be pleasing 
Him, if we are not happy ourselves. 




J. Rusktn. 



io January 10. 



Because Thy loving- kindness is better than life, 
jny lips shall praise Thee. — Ps. Ixiii. 3. 

Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose 
it ; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve 
it. — Luke xvii. 33. 

O Lord ! my best desires fulfil, 

And help me to resign 
Life, health, and comfort, to Thy will, 

And make Thy pleasure mine. 

Wm. Cowper. 

"VX7HAT do our heavy hearts prove but that 
other things are sweeter to us than His 
will, that we have not attained to the full mastery 
of our true freedom, the full perception of its 
power, that our sonship is yet but faintly realized, 
and its blessedness not yet proved and known? 
Our consent would turn all our trials into obedi- 
ence. By consenting we make them our own, 
and offer them with ourselves again to Him. 

H. E. Manning. 

Nothing is intolerable that is necessary. Now 
God hath bound thy trouble upon thee, with a 
design to try thee, and with purposes to reward 
and crown thee. These cords thou canst not 
break ; and therefore lie thou down gently, and 
suffer the hand of God to do what He please. 

Jeremy Taylor 



January 11. 



ii 



/ will be glad } and rejoice in Thy mercy ; for 
Thou hast considered my trouble; Thou hast 
known my soul in adversities. — Ps. xxxi. 7. 

Nay, all by Thee is ordered, chosen, planned — • 
Each drop that fills my daily cup ; Thy hand 
Prescribes for ills none else can understand. 

All, all is known to Thee. 

A. L. Newton. 

OD knows us through and through. Not the 
most secret thought, which we most hide 
from ourselves, is hidden from Him. As then we 
come to know ourselves through and through, we 
come to see ourselves more as God sees us, and 
then we catch some little glimpse of His designs 
with us, how each ordering of His Providence, 
each check to our desires, each failure of our 
hopes, is just fitted for us, and for something in 
our own spiritual state, which others know not of, 
and which, till then, we knew not. Until we 
come to this knowledge, we must take all in faith, 
believing, though we know not, the goodness of 
God towards us. As we know ourselves, we, thus 
far, know God. 

E. B. Pusey 



12 January 12. 



Let the words of my mouthy and the meditation 
of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, 
my strength, and my redeemer. — Ps. xix. 14. 

The thoughts that in our hearts keep place, 
Lord, make a holy, heavenly throng, 

And steep in innocence and grace 
The issue of each guarded tongue. 



HERE is another kind of silence to be culti- 



vated, besides that of the tongue as regards 
others. I mean silence as regards one's self, — 
restraining the imagination, not permitting it to 
dwell overmuch on what we have heard or said, 
not indulging in the phantasmagoria of picture- 
thoughts, whether of the past or future. Be sure 
that you have made no small progress in the spir- 
itual life, when you can control your imagination, 
so as to fix it on the duty and occupation actually 
existing, to the exclusion of the crowd of thoughts 
which are perpetually sweeping across the mind. 
No doubt, you cannot prevent those thoughts 
from arising, but you can prevent yourself from 
dwelling on them ; you can put them aside, you 
can check the self-complacency, or irritation, or 
earthly longings which feed them, and by the 
practice of such control of your thoughts you 
will attain that spirit of inward silence which 
draws the soul into a close intercourse with God. 



T. H. Gill. 




Jean N. Grou. 



January 13. 



13 



Speak not evil one of another, brethren. — James 
Iv. 11. 

Let all bitterness, a7id wrath, and anger, and 
clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, 
with all malice. — Eph. iv. 31. 

If aught good thou canst not say 

Of thy brother, foe, or friend, 
Take thou, then, the silent way, 

Lest in word thou shouldst offend. 

Anon. 

TF there is any person to whom you feel dislike, 
that is the person of whom you ought never 
to speak. 

R. Cecil. 

To recognize with delight all high and gener- 
ous and beautiful actions ; to find a joy even in 
seeing the good qualities of your bitterest oppo- 
nents, and to admire those qualities even in those 
with whom you have least sympathy, — be it either 
the Romanist or the Unitarian, — this is the only 
spirit which can heal the love of slander and ol 
calumny. 

F. W. Robertson 



14 January 14. 



Thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my 
lord the king shall appoint. — 2 Sam. xv. 15. 

I love to think that God appoints 

My portion day by day ; 
Events of life are in His hand, 

And I would only say, 
Appoint them in Thine own good time, 

And in Thine own best way. 

A. L. Waring. 

TF we are really, and always, and equally ready 
to do whatsoever the King appoints, all the 
trials and vexations arising from any change in 
His appointments, great or small, simply do not 
exist. If He appoints me to work there, shall I 
lament that I am not to work here ? If He ap ■ 
points me to wait in-doors to-day, am I to be 
annoyed because I am not to work out-of-doors? 
If I meant to write His messages this morning, 
shall I grumble because He sends interrupting 
visitors, rich or poor, to whom I am to speak 
them, or "show kindness" for His sake, or at 
least obey His command, "Be courteous"? If 
all my members are really at His disposal, why 
should I be put out if to-day's appointment is 
some simple work for my hands or errands for 
my feet, instead of some seemingly more impor- 
tant doing of head or tongue ? 

F. R. Havergal 



January 15. 



15 



For this is the will of God, even your sancti- 
fication. — I Thess. iv. 3. 

Between us and Thyself remove 
Whatever hindrances may be, 

That so our inmost heart may prove 
A holy temple, meet for Thee. 

Latin Mss. of 15TH Century. 

TDEAR, in the presence of God, to know thyself. 
Then seek to know for what God sent thee 
into the world ; how thou hast fulfilled it ; art 
thou yet what God willed thee to be ; what yet 
lacketh unto thee ; what is God's will for thee 
now ; what thing thou mayest now do, by His 
grace, to obtain His favor, and approve thyseU 
unto Him. Say to Him, " Teach me to do Thy 
will, for Thou art my God/' and He will say unto 
thy soul, " Fear not ; I am thy salvation." He 
will speak peace unto thy soul ; He will set thee 
in the way ; He will bear thee above things of 
sense, and praise of man, and things which per- 
ish in thy grasp, and give thee, if but afar off 
some glimpse of His own, unfading, unsetting 
unperishing brightness and bliss and love. 

E. B. Pusey 



[6 January 16. 



God, evert our Father, which hath loved us, and 
hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope 
through grace, co7nfort your hearts, and stablish 
you in every good word and work. — 2 Thess. ii. 
16, 17. 



When sorrow all our heart would ask, 
We need not shun our daily task, 

And hide ourselves for calm ; 
The herbs we seek to heal our woe 
Familiar by our pathway grow, 

Our common air is balm. 



H, when we turn away from some duty or 



some fellow-creature, saying that our hearts 
are too sick and sore with some great yearning 
of our own, we may often sever the line on which 
a divine message was coming to us. We shut out 
the man, and we shut out the angel who had sent 
him on to open the door. . . . There is a plan 
working in our lives ; and if we keep our hearts 
quiet and our eyes open, it all works together; 
and, if we don't, it all fights together, and goes 
on fighting till it comes right, somehow, some- 
where. 



J. Keble. 




Annie Keary 



January 17. 17 



Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery 
trial which is to try yon, as though some strange 
thing happened unto yon : but rejoice, inasmuch 
as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings. — 
i Peter iv. 12, 13. 

We take with solemn thankfulness 
Our burden up, nor ask it less, 
And count it joy that even we 
May suffer, serve, or wait for Thee, 
Whose will be done ! 

J. G. Whittier. 

J^ECEIVE every inward and outward trouble, 
every disappointment, pain, uneasiness, 
temptation, darkness, and desolation, with both 
thy hands, as a true opportunity and blessed oc- 
casion of dying to self, and entering into a fuller 
fellowship with thy self-denying, suffering Saviour. 
Look at no inward or outward trouble in any 
other view ; reject every other thought about it ; 
and then every kind of trial and distress will 
become the blessed day of thy prosperity. That 
state is best, which exerciseth the highest faith in, 
and fullest resignation to God. 

Wm. Law 

2 



iS January 18. 



Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which tht 
Lord thy God hath given unto thee. — Deut. xxvi. 
1 1. 

Rejoice evermore. In every tiling give thanks. — * 
« Thess. v. i 6, 1 8. 

Grave on thy heart each past "red-letter day"! 
Forget not all the sunshine of the way 
By which the Lord hath led thee ; answered prayers, 
And joys unasked, strange blessings, lifted cares, 
Grand promise-echoes ! Thus thy life shall be 
One record of His love and faithfulness to thee. 



RATITUDE consists in a watchful, minute 



attention to the particulars of our state, and 
to the multitude of God's gifts, taken one by- 
one. It fills us with a consciousness that God 
loves and cares for us, even to the least event and 
smallest need of life. It is a blessed thought, that 
from our childhood God has been laying His fa- 
therly hands upon us, and always in benediction ; 
that even the strokes of His hands are blessings, 
and among the chiefest we have ever received. 
When this feeling is awakened, the heart beats 
with a pulse of thankfulness. Every gift has its 
return of praise. It awakens an unceasing daily 
converse with our Father, — He speaking to us 
by the descent of blessings, we to Him by the 
ascent of thanksgiving. And all our whole life 
is thereby drawn under the light of His counte- 
nance, and is filled with a gladness, serenity, and 
peace which only thankful hearts can know. 



F. R. Havergal. 




H. E. Manning 



January 19. 



19 



Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. — 
Ps. cv. 3. 

The joy of the Lord is your strength. — Neh, 
iriii. 10. 

Be Thou my Sun, my selfishness destroy, 

Thy atmosphere of Love be all my joy; 

Thy Presence be my sunshine ever bright, 

My soul the little mote that lives but in Thy light. 

Gerhard TersteegeNc 

T DO not know when I have had happier times 
in my soul, than when I have been sitting at 
work, with nothing before me but a candle and a 
white cloth, and hearing no sound but that of my 
own breath, with God in my soul and heaven in my 
eye. ... I rejoice in being exactly what I am, — 
a creature capable of loving God, and who, as 
long as God lives, must be happy. I get up and 
look for a while out of the window, and gaze at 
the moon and stars, the work of an Almighty 
hand. I think of the grandeur of the universe, 
and then sit down, and think myself one of the 
happiest beings in it. 

A Poor Methodist Woman, i8th Century 



20 January 20. 



The Lord taketh pleasure in His people : He will 
beautify the meek with salvation. — Ps. cxlix. 4. 

Send down Thy likeness from above, 

And let this my adorning be : 
Clothe me with wisdom, patience, love, 

With lowliness and purity. 

Joachim Lange. 

TT is not in words explicable, with what divine 
lines and lights the exercise of godliness and 
charity will mould and gild the hardest and cold- 
est countenance, neither to what darkness their 
departure will consign the loveliest. For there 
is not any virtue the exercise of which, even mo- 
mentarily, will not impress a new fairness upon 
the features ; neither on them only, but on the 
whole body the moral and intellectual faculties 
have operation, for all the movements and gest- 
ures, however slight, are different in their modes 
according to the mind that governs them — and 
on the gentleness and decision of right feeling 
follows grace of actions, and, through continu- 
ance of this, grace of form. 

J. RUSKIN. 

There is no beautifier of complexion, or form 3 
or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not 
pain around us. 

R. W. Emerson. 



January 21. 



2 I 



Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and 
the young men shall utterly fall j but they that wait 
upon the Lord shall renew their strength j they shall 
mount tip with wings as eagles j they shall run, 
and not be weary ; and they shall walk and not 
faint. — Is A. xl. 30, 31. 

Lord, with what courage and delight 

I do each thing, 
When Thy least breath sustains my wing ! 

I shine and move 

Like those above, 

And, with much gladness 

Quitting sadness, 
Make me fair days of every night. 

H. Vaughan. 

A/TAN, by living wholly in submission to the 
^ Divine Influence, becomes surrounded 
with, and creates for himself, internal pleasures 
infinitely greater than any he can otherwise attain 
to — a state of heavenly Beatitude. 

J. P. Greaves. 

By persisting in a habit of self-denial, we shall, 
beyond what I can express, increase the inward 
powers of the mind, and shall produce that cheer- 
fulness and greatness of spirit as will fit us for all 
good purposes ; and shall not have lost pleasure, 
but changed it ; the soul being then filled with 
its own intrinsic pleasures, 

Henry More. 



22 January 22. 



Then shall we know, if we follow on to know 
the Lord. — Hose a vi. 3. 

And, as the path of duty is made plain, 
May grace be given that I may walk therein, 

Not like the hireling, for his selfish gain, 
With backward glances and reluctant tread, 
Making a merit of his coward dread, — 

But, cheerful, in the light around me throw n. 

Walking as one to pleasant service led; 

Doing God's will as if it were my own, 
Yet trusting not in mine, but in His strength alone ! 

J. G. Whittier. 

TT is by doing our duty that we learn to do it. 

So long as men dispute whether or no a thing 
is their duty, they get never the nearer. Let 
them set ever so weakly about doing it. and the 
face of things alters. They find in themselves 
strength which they knew not of. Difficulties 
which it seemed to them they could not get over, 
disappear. For He accompanies it with the in- 
fluences of His blessed Spirit, and each perform- 
ance opens our minds for larger influxes of His 
grace, and places them in communion with Him. 

E. B. Pusey. 

That which is called considering what is our 
duty in a particular case, is very often nothing 
but endeavoring to explain it away. 

Bishop Butler. 



January 23. 23 



If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and 
satisfy the afflicted soul j then shall thy light rise in 
obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday j and 
the Lord shall guide thee continually. — Is A. lviii. 
10, 11. 

If thou hast Yesterday thy duty done, 

And thereby cleared firm footing for Today, 

Whatever clouds make dark To-morrow's sun, 
Thou shalt not miss thy solitary way. 

J. W. vox Goethe. 

f~\ LORD, who art our Guide even unto death, 
grant us, I pray Thee, grace to follow Thee 
whithersoever Thou goest. In little daily duties 
to which Thou callest us, bow down our wills to 
simple obedience, patience uMer pain or prov- 
ocation, strict truthfulness of word and manner, 
humility, kindness • in great acts of duty or per- 
fection, if Thou shouldest call us to them, uplift 
us to self-sacrifice, heroic courage, laying down 
of life for Thy truth's sake, or for a brother. 
Amen. 

C. G. Rossetti 



24 January 24. 



/ will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel. 
— Ps. xvi. 7. 

Not slothful in business j fervent in spirit j serv- 
ing the Lord. — Rom. xii. 11. 

Mine be the reverent, listening love 

That waits all day on Thee, 
With the service of a watchful heart 

Which no one else can see. 

A. L. Waring. 

XTOTHIXG is small or great in God's sight; 



whatever He wills becomes great to us, 
however seemingly trifling, and if once the voice 
of conscience tells us that He requires anything 
of us. we have no right to measure its importance. 
On the other hand, whatever He would not have 
us do. however important we may think it. is as 
nought to us. How do you know what you may 
lose by neglecting this duty, which you think so 
trifling, or the blessing which its faithful perform- 
ance may bring ? Be sure that if you do your 
very best in that which is laid upon you daily, 
you will not be left without sufficient help when 
some weightier occasion arises. Give yourself to 
Him. trust Him. fix your eye upon Him. listen 
to His voice, and then go on bravely and cheer- 
fully. 




Jean Nicolas Grotj. 



January 25. 



25 



If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do 
the?n. — John xiii. 17. 

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and 
doeth it not, to him it is sin. — James iv. 17. 

We cannot kindle when we will 
The fire that in the heart resides, 

The spirit bloweth and is still, 
In mystery our soul abides : 

But tasks in hours of insight willed 

Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled. 

Matthew Arnold. 

TLJURT not your conscience with any known 
sin. 

S. Rutherford. 

Deep-rooted customs, though wrong, are not 
easily altered • but it is the duty of all to be firm 
in that which they certainly know is right for 
them. 

John Woolman. 

He often acts unjustly who does not do a 
certain thing : not only he who does a certain 
thing. 

Marcus Antoninus. 

Every duty we omit obscures some truth we 
should have known. 

John Ru^kin 



26 January 26. 



O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and 
knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are His Judg- 
ments, and His ways past finding out! — Rom. 
xi- 33- 

It doth not yet appear what we shall be. — i John 
iii. 2. 

No star is ever lost we once have seen, 

We always may be what we might have been. 

Since Good, though only thought, has life and breath, 

God's life — can always be redeemed from death ; 

And evil, in its nature, is decay, 

And any hour can blot it all away ; 

The hopes that lost in some far distance seem, 

May be the truer life, and this the dream. 

A. A. Procter. 

CT. BERNARD has said : "Man, if thou desir- 
est a noble and holy life, and unceasingly 
prayest to God for it, if thou continue constant 
in this thy desire, it will be granted unto thee 
without fail, even if only in the day or hour of 
thy death ; and if God should not give it to thee 
then, thou shalt find it in Him in eternity : of 
this be assured." Therefore do not relinquish 
your desire, though it be not fulfilled immediately, 
or though ye may swerve from your aspirations, 
or even forget them for a time. . . . The love 
and aspiration which once really existed live for- 
ever before God, and in Him ye shall find the 
fruit thereof: that is, to all eternity it shall be 
better for you than if you had never felt them. 

J. Tal ler, i 290-1361. 



January 27. 27 



For thus saiih the high and lofty One that inhab- 
iteth eternity, whose name is Holy j I dwell in the 
high and holy place, with him also that is of a con- 
trite and hwnble spirit, to revive the spirit of the 
hu?nble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. 
— ISA. lvii. 15. 

Without an end or bound 
Thy life lies all outspread in light ; 

Our lives feel Thy life all around, 
Making our weakness strong, our darkness bright; 
Yet is it neither wilderness nor sea, 
But the calm gladness of a full eternity. 



TRUTH who art Eternity ! And Love who 



art Truth ! And Eternity who art Love ! 
Thou art my God, to Thee do I sigh night and 
day. When I first knew Thee, Thou liftedst me 
up, that I might see there was somewhat for me 
to see, and that I was not yet such as to see. 
And Thou streaming forth Thy beams of light 
upon me most strongly, didst beat back the weak- 
ness of my sight, and I trembled with love and 
awe : and I perceived myself to be far off from 
Thee in the region of unlikeness. 



F. W. Faber. 




St. Augustine. 



23 



January 28. 



O fear the Lord, ye His saints : for tliere is no 
want to them that fear Him, — Ps. xxxiv. 9. 

Tlwu openest Thine liand, and satisfiest the desire 
of every living thing. — Ps. cxlv. 16. 

What Thou shalt to-day provide, 

Let me as a child receive ; 
What to-morrow may betide, 

Calmly to Thy wisdom leave. 
'T is enough that Thou wilt care ; 
Why should I the burden bear ? 

J. Newton. 

TIT AVE we found that anxiety about possible 
consequences increased the clearness of 
our judgment, made us wiser and braver in meet- 
ing the present, and arming ourselves for the 
future? ... If we had prayed for this day's 
bread, and left the next to itself, if we had not 
huddled our days together, not allotting to each 
its appointed task, but ever deferring that to the 
future, and drawing upon the future for its own 
troubles, which must be met when they come 
whether we have anticipated them or not, we 
should have found a simplicity and honesty in 
our lives, a capacity for work, an enjoyment in 
it, to which we are now, for the most part, 
strangers. 

F. D. Maurice. 



January 29. 



I the Lord will hold thy right hand, saying unto 
thee, Fear notj I will help thee. — Isa. xli. 13. 

Show Thy marvellous loving-kindness, O Thou 
that savest by Thy right hand the7n which put their 
trust in Thee. — Ps. xvii. 7. 

I TAKE Thy hand, and fears grow still ; 

Behold Thy face, and doubts remove ; 
Who would not yield his wavering will 

To perfect Truth and boundless Love ? 

S. Johnson 

\\0 not look forward to the changes and 
chances of this life in fear ; rather look 
to them with full hope that, as they arise, God, 
whose you are, will deliver you out of them. 
He has kept you hitherto, — do you but hold fast 
to His dear hand, and He will lead you safely 
through all things ; and, when you cannot stand, 
He will bear you in His arms. Do not look 
forward to what may happen to-morrow ; the 
same everlasting Father who cares for you to- 
day, will take care of you to-morrow, and every 
day. Either He will shield you from suffering, 
or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. 
Be at peace then, and put aside all anxious 
thoughts and imaginations. 

Francis de Sales. 



30 January 30. 



If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell i?i 
the uttermost parts of the sea j even there shall Thy 
hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. — 
Ps. cxxxix. 9, ro. 

I cannot lose Thee ! Still in Thee abiding, 
The end is clear, how wide soe'er I roam ; 

The Hand that holds the worlds my steps is guiding, 
And I must rest at last in Thee, my home. 

E. SCUDDER, 

tTOW can we come to perceive this direct 
leading of God? By a careful looking at 
home, and abiding within the gates of thy own 
soul. Therefore, let a man be at home in his 
own heart, and cease from his restless chase of 
and search after outward things. If he is thus 
at home while on earth, he will surely come to 
see what there is to do at home, — what God 
commands him inwardly without means, and also 
outwardly by the help of means ; and then let 
him surrender himself, and follow God along 
whatever path his loving Lord thinks fit to lead 
him : whether it be to contemplation or action, 
to usefulness or enjoyment : whether in sorrow 
or in joy, let him follow on. And if God do not 
give him thus to feel His hand in all things, let 
him still simply yield himself up, and go with- 
out, for God's sake, out of love, and still press 
forward. 

J. Tauler, 



January 31. 



3i 



In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall 
direct thy paths. — Prov. iii. 6. 

He leadeth me. — Ps. xxiii. 2. 

In " pastures green " ? Not always ; sometimes He 
Who knoweth best, in kindness leadeth me 
In weary ways, where heavy shadows be. 

So, whether on the hill-tops high and fair 
I dwell, or in the sunless valleys, where 
The shadows lie, what matter ? He is there. 



HE Shepherd knows what pastures are best 



for his sheep, and they must not question 
nor doubt, but trustingly follow Him. Perhaps 
He sees that the best pastures for some of us are 
to be found in the midst of opposition or of 
earthly trials. If He leads you there, you may 
be sure they are green for you, and you will grow 
and be made strong by feeding there. Perhaps 
He sees that the best waters for you to walk be- 
side will be raging waves of trouble and sorrow. 
If this should be the case, He will make them 
still waters for you, and you must go and lie down 
beside them, and let them have all their blessed 
influences upon you. 



Henry H. Barry. 




H. W. S. 



32 



February 1. 



Now the God of patience and consolation grant 
you to be like-7ninded one toivard another, according 
to Christ Jesus. — Rom. xv. 5. 

Let patience have her perfect work. — James 
i. 4. 

Make me patient, kind, and gentle, 

Day by day ; 
Teach me how to live more nearly 

As I pray. 

Sharpe's Magazine. 

"J^HE exercise of patience involves a continual 
practice of the presence of God ; for we 
may be come upon at any moment for an almost 
heroic display of good temper, and it is a short 
road to unselfishness, for nothing is left to self ; 
all that seems to belong most intimately to self, 
to be self s private property, such as time, home, 
and rest, are invaded by these continual trials of 
patience. The family is full of such opportu- 
nities. 

F. W. Faber. 



February 2. 



33 



Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that 
are unruly^ eomfort the feeble-minded, support the 
weak j be patient toward all men. — I Thess. v c 14 

The little worries which we meet each day- 
May lie as stumbling-blocks across our way, 
Or we may make them stepping-stones to be 
Of grace, O Lord, to Thee. 



E must be continually sacrificing our own 



wills, as opportunity serves, to the will of 
others ; bearing, without notice, sights and sounds 
that annoy us ; setting about this or that task, 
when we had far rather be doing something very 
different ; persevering in it, often, when w^e are 
thoroughly tired of it; keeping company for 
duty's sake, when it would be a great joy to us 
to be by ourselves ; besides all the trifling unto- 
ward accidents of life ; bodily pain and weakness 
long continued, and perplexing us often when it 
does not amount to illness ; losing what we value, 
missing what we desire ; disappointment in other 
persons, wilfulness, unkindness, ingratitude, folly, 
in cases where we least expect it. 



A. E. Hamilton 




J. Keble. 



34 February 3. 



Search me, O God, and know my heart ; try me, 
and know my thoughts; and see if there be any 
wicked way in me, and lead me i7i the way ever- 
lasting. — Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24. 

Save us from the evil tongue, 
From the heart that thinketh wrong, 
From the sins, whate'er they be, 
That divide the soul from Thee. 

Anon. 

QUCH as are thy habitual thoughts, such also 
will be the character of thy mind ; for the 
soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it then with 
a continuous series of such thoughts as these : 
for instance, that where a man can live, there he 
can also live well. But he must live in a palace : 
well, then, he can also live well in a palace. 

Marcus Antoninus. 

Who is there that sets himself to the task of 
steadily watching his thoughts for the space of 
one hour, with the view of preserving his mind 
in a simple, humble, healthful condition, but will 
speedily discern in the multiform, self-reflecting, 
self-admiring emotions, which, like locusts, are 
ready to " eat up every green thing in his land," 
a state as much opposed to simplicity and humility 
as night is to day? 

M. A. Kelty. 



February 4. 



35 



If any man offend not in word, the sa?ne is a 
perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body, 
— James iii. 2. 

Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth ; keep the 
door of my lips. — Ps. cxli. 3. 

What ! never speak one evil word, 

Or rash, or idle, or unkind ! 
Oh, how shall I, most gracious Lord, 

This mark of true perfection find ? 

C. Wesley. 

\\ 7HEN we remember our temptations to give 
quick indulgence to disappointment or 
irritation or unsympathizing weariness, . . . and 
how hard a thing it is from day to day to meet 
our fellow-men, our neighbors, or even our own 
households, in all moods, in all discordances be- 
tween the world without us and the frames within, 
in all states of health, of solicitude, of preoccupa- 
tion, and show no signs of impatience, ungentle- 
ness, or unobservant self-absorption, — with only 
kindly feeling finding expression, and ungenial 
feeling at least inwardly imprisoned ; — we shall 
be ready to acknowledge that the man who has 
thus attained is master of himself, and in the 
graciousness of his power is fashioned upon the 
style of a Perfect Man. 

J. H. Thom 



February 5. 



Blessed a?'e they that keep judgment, and lie that 
doeth righteousness at all tunes. — Ps. cvi. 3. 

Thou shall be stedfast, and shall not fear: be- 
cause thou shall forget thy misery ^ and remember 
it as waters that pass away. — Job xi. 15, 16. 

In the bitter waves of woe, 

Beaten and tossed about 
By the sullen winds that blow 

From the desolate shores of doubt, 
Where the anchors that faith has cast 

Are dragging in the gale, 
I am quietly holding fast 

To the things that cannot fail. 

Washington Gladden 

TN the darkest hour through which a human 
soul can pass, whatever else is doubtful, this 
at least is certain. If there be no God and no 
future state, yet. even then, it is better to be 
generous than selfish, better to be chaste than 
licentious, better to be true than false, better to 
be brave than to be a coward. Blessed beyond all 
earthly blessedness is the man who. in the tem- 
pestuous darkness of the soul, has dared to hold 
fast to these venerable landmarks. Thrice blessed 
is he. who. when all is drear and cheerless within 
and without, when his teachers terrify him. and 
his friends shrink from him, has obstinately clung 
to moral good. Thrice blessed, because his 
night shall pass into clear, bright day. 

F. W- Robertson 



February 6. 37 



Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe 
— Prov. xxix. 25. 

/ will cry unto God 7nost high j unto God, that 
performeth all things for me. — Ps. lvii. 2. 

Only thy restless heart keep still, 
And wait in cheerful hope ; content 

To take whate'er His gracious will, 
His all-discerning love hath sent \ 

Nor doubt our inmost wants are known 
To Him who chose us for His own. 

G. Neumarck. 

/^OD has brought us into this time ; He, and 
not ourselves or some dark demon. If 
we are not fit to cope with that which He has 
prepared for us, we should have been utterly unfit 
for any condition that we imagine for ourselves. 
In this time we are to live and wrestle, and in no 
other. Let us humbly, tremblingly, manfully look 
at it, and we shall not wish that the sun could go 
back its ten degrees, or that we could go back 
with it. If easy times are departed, it is that the 
difficult times may make us more in earnest ; that 
they may teach us not to depend upon ourselves. 
If easy belief is impossible, it is that we may 
learn what belief is, and in whom it is to be 
placed. 

F. D. Maurice 



38 February 7. 



Obey my voice, and I will be your God, a?id ye 
shall be ?ny people : and walk ye in all the ways 
that I have commanded you, that it may be well 
unto you. — Jer. vii. 23. 

And oft, when in my heart was heard 

Thy timely mandate, I deferred 

The task, in smoother walks to stray ; 

But thee I now would serve more strictly, if I may. 

W. Wordsworth. 

"DRAY Him to give you what Scripture calls 
" an honest and good heart," or " a perfect 
heart ; " and, without waiting, begin at once to 
obey Him with the best heart you have. Any 
obedience is better than none. You have to seek 
His face ; obedience is the only way of seeing 
Him. All your duties are obediences. To do 
what He bids is to obey Him, and to obey Him 
is to approach Him. Every act of obedience is 
an approach — an approach to Him who is not 
far off, though He seems so, but close behind this 
visible screen of things which hides Him from us, 

J. H. Newman. 

As soon as we lay ourselves entirely at His feet 
we have enough light given us to guide our own 
steps ; as the foot-soldier, who hears nothing of the 
councils that determine the course of the great 
battle he is in, hears plainly enough the word of 
command which he must himself obey. 

George Eliot. 



February 8. 



39 



He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restor- 
eth my soul j He leadeth me in the paths of right- 
eousness for His name's sake. — Ps. xxiii. 2, 3. 

He leads me where the waters glide, 

The waters soft and still, 
And homeward He will gently guide 

My wandering heart and will. 

J. Keble 

^\UT of obedience and devotion arises an 



habitual faith, which makes Him, though 
unseen, a part of all our life. He will guide 
us in a sure path, though it be a rough one : 
though shadows hang upon it, yet He will be 
with us. He will bring us home at last. Through 
much trial it may be, and weariness, in much 
fear and fainting of heart, in much sadness and 
loneliness, in griefs that the world never knows, 
and under burdens that the nearest never suspect. 
Yet He will suffice for all. By His eye or by 
His voice He will guide us, if we be docile and 
gentle ; by His staff and by His rod, if we wan- 
der or are wilful : any how, and by ail means, He 
Vvill bring us to His rest. 




H. E. MANNING 



40 February 9. 



/ was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the 
earth : to. there thou hast that is thine. — MATT- 
xxv. 25. 

Time was. I shrank from what was right, 

From fear of what was wrong ; 
I would not brave the sacred fight, 

Because the foe was strong. 

But now I cast that finer sense 

And sorer shame aside ; 
Such dread of sin was indolence, 
Such aim at heaven was pride. 

J. H. X lwm ain- 
't F he falls into some error, he does not fret over 
it, but rising up with a humble spirit, he goes 
on his way anew rejoicing. Were he to fall a 
hundred times in the day, he would not despair, 
— he would rather cry out lovingly to God, ap- 
pealing to His tender pity. The really devour 
man has a horror of evil, but he has a still greatei 
love of that which is good ; he is more set on 
doing what is right, than avoiding what is wrong 
Generous, large-hearted, he is not afraid of dan 
ger in serving God. and would rather run the 
risk of doing His will imperfectly than not strive 
to serve Him lest he fail in the attempt. 

Tean Nicolas Grou 



February 10. 



4* 



We have waited for Him^ and He will save us : 
this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will 
be glad in His salvation. — 1 5 A. xxv. 9. 

Blest are the humble souls that wait 
With sweet submission to His will; 

Harmonious all their passions move, 
x\nd in the midst of storms are still. 



O not be discouraged at your faults ; bear 



with yourself in correcting them, as you 
would with your neighbor. Lay aside this ardor 
of mind, which exhausts your body, and leads 
you to commit errors. Accustom yourself grad- 
ually to carry prayer into all your daily occupa- 
tions. Speak, move. work, in peace, as if you 
were in prayer, as indeed you ought to be. Do 
everything without excitement, by the spirit of 
grace. As soon as you perceive your natural im- 
petuosity gliding in. retire quietly within, where is 
the kingdom of God. Listen to the leadings of 
grace, then say and do nothing but what the Holy 
Spirit shall put in your heart. You will find that 
you will become more tranquil, that your words 
will be fewer and more effectual, and that, with 
less effort, you will accomplish more good. 



P. Doddridge. 




Fenelon 



42 February 11. 



/ have finished the work which Thou gavest me 
to do. — John xvii. 4. 

She hath done what she could. — Mark xiv. 8. 

He who God's will has borne and done, 
And his own restless longings stilled ; 

What else he does, or has foregone, 
His mission he has well fulfilled. 

From the German. 

r^HEERED by the presence of God, I will do 
at each moment, without anxiety, according 
to the strength which He shall give me, the work 
that His Providence assigns me. I will leave the 
rest without concern ; it is not my affair. I ought 
to consider the duty to which I am called each 
day, as the work that God has given me to do, 
and to apply myself to it in a manner worthy of 
His glory, that is to say, with exactness and in 
peace. I must neglect nothing ; I must be vio- 
lent about nothing. 

Fenelon. 

It is thy duty oftentimes to do what thou 
wouldst not \ thy duty, too, to leave undone what 
thou wouldst do. 

Thomas a Kempis 



February 12. 



43 



Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with 
benefits. — Ps. lxviii. 19. 

Nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living 
God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. — 
1 Tim. vi. 17. 

Source of my life's refreshing springs, 
Whose presence in my heart sustains me, 

Thy love ordains me pleasant things, 
Thy mercy orders all that pains me. 

A. L. Waring 

A ND to be true, and speak my soul, when I 
survey the occurrences of my life, and call 
into account the finger of God, I can perceive 
nothing but an abyss and mass of mercies, either 
in general to mankind, or in particular to myself ; 
and whether out of the prejudice of my affection, 
or an inverting and partial conceit of His mercies, 
I know not ; but those which others term crosses, 
afflictions, judgments, misfortunes, to me who 
inquire farther into them than their visible effects, 
they both appear, and in event have ever proved, 
the secret and dissembled favors of His affection. 

Sir T. Browne 



44 



February 13. 



The will of the Lord be done. — Acts xxi. 14. 
Let Him do to me as seemeth good unto Hi?n. — 
2 Sam. xv. 26. 

To have, each day, the thing I wish, 

Lord, that seems best to me ; 
But not to have the thing I wish, 

Lord, that seems best to Thee. 
Most truly, then, Thy will is done, 

When mine, O Lord, is crossed ; 
'T is good to see my plans o'erthrown, 

My ways in Thine all lost. 



LORD, Thou knowest what is best for us ; 



let this or that be done, as Thou shalt 
please. Give what Thou wilt, and how much 
Thou wilt, and when Thou wilt. Deal with me 
as Thou thinkest good. Set me where Thou wilt, 
and deal with me in all things just as Thou wilt. 
Behold, I am Thy servant, prepared for all things : 
for I desire not to live unto myself, but unto 
Thee ; and oh, that I could do it worthily and 



Dare to look up to God, and say, " Make use 
of me for the future as Thou wilt. I am of the 
same mind ; I am one with Thee. I refuse 
nothing which seems good to Thee. Lead me 
whither Thou wilt, clothe me in whatever dress 
Thou wilt. Is it Thy will that I should be in a 
public or a private condition, dwell here, or be 
banished, be poor or rich ? Under all these cir- 
cumstances, I will testify unto Thee before men." 



H. Bonar. 




perfectly ! 



Thomas a Kempis. 



Epictetus. 



February 14. 45 



/ would have you without carefulness. — 1 Cor 
vii. 32. 

O Lord, how happy should we be 
If we could cast our care on Thee, 

If we from self could rest ; 
And feel at heart that One above, 
In perfect wisdom, perfect love, 

Is working for the best. 

J. Anstice. 

r^AST all thy care on God. See that all thy 
^■" / cares be such as thou canst cast on God, 
and then hold none back. Never brood over thy- 
self ; never stop short in thyself ; but cast thy 
whole self, even this very care which distressed! 
thee, upon God. Be not anxious about little 
things, if thou wouldst learn to trust God with 
thine all. Act upon faith in little things ; com- 
mit thy daily cares and anxieties to Him ; and 
He will strengthen thy faith for any greater trials. 
Rather, give thy whole self into God's hands, 
and so trust Him to take care of thee in all lesser 
things, as being His, for His own sake, whose 
thou art. 

E. B. Pusey 



46 February 15. 



If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scrip- 
ture, Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself ye do 
"uell. — James ii. 8. 

Come, children, let us go ! 

We travel hand in hand ; 
Each in his brother finds his joy 

In this wild stranger land. 
The strong be quick to raise 

The weaker when they fall ; 
Let love and peace and patience bloom 

In ready help for all. 

G. Tersteegen. 

TT is a sad weakness in us, after all, that the 
thought of a man's death hallows him anew 
to us ; as if life were not sacred too, — as if it 
were comparatively a light thing to fail in love 
and reverence to the brother who has to climb 
the whole toilsome steep with us, and all our 
tears and tenderness were due to the one who is 
spared that hard journey. 

George Eliot, 

Would we codify the laws that should reign in 
households, and whose daily transgression annoys 
and mortifies us, and degrades our household 
life, — we must learn to adorn every day with 
sacrifices. Good manners are made up of petty 
sacrifices. Temperance, courage, love, are made 
up of the same jewels. Listen to every prompt- 
ing of honor. 

R W Emerson 



February 16. 47 



Serve Him with a perfect heart, and with a 
willing mind. — 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. 

And if some things I do not ask, 

In my cup of blessing be, 
I would have my spirit filled the more 

With grateful love to Thee, — 
More careful, — not to serve Thee much, 

But to please Thee perfectly. 



ITTLE things come daily, hourly, within our 



reach, and they are not less calculated to 
set forward our growth in holiness, than are the 
greater occasions which occur but rarely. More- 
over, fidelity in trifles, and an earnest seeking to 
please God in little matters, is a test of real devo- 
tion and love. Let your aim be to please our 
dear Lord perfectly in little things, and to attain 
a spirit of childlike simplicity and dependence. 
In proportion as self-love and self-confidence are 
weakened, and our will bowed to that of God, sc 
will hindrances disappear, the internal troubles 
and contests which harassed the soul vanish, and 
it will be filled with peace and tranquillity. 



A. L. Waring. 




Jean Nicolas Grou 



48 February 17. 



My brethren, coujit it all joy when ye fall into 
divers temptations [or " trials "], knowing this, that 
the trying of your faith worketh patience. — James 



For patience, when the rough winds blow ! 

For patience, when our hopes are fading, — 
When visible things all backward go, 

And nowhere seems the power of aiding ! 
God still enfolds thee with His viewless hand, 
And leads thee surely to the Fatherland. 

N. L. Frothingham, from the German. 

7E have need of patience with ourselves and 



with others ; with those below, and those 
above us, and with our own equals ; with those 
who love us and those who love us not ; for the 
greatest things and for the least ; against sudden 
inroads of trouble, and under our daily burdens ; 
disappointments as to the weather, or the break- 
ing of the heart ; in the weariness of the body, 
or the wearing of the soul • in our own failure of 
duty, or others' failure toward us ; in every-day 
wants, or in the aching of sickness or the decay 
of age ; in disappointment, bereavement, losses, 
injuries, reproaches • in heaviness of the heart ; 
or its sickness amid delayed hopes. In all these 
things, from childhood's little troubles to the mar- 
tyr's sufferings, patience is the grace of God, 
whereby we endure evil for the love of God. 



*• 2, 3- 




E. B. Pusey 



February 18. 49 



// is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I 
might learn Thy statutes. — Ps. cxix. 71. 

But though He cause grief, yet will He have com- 
passion, according to the multitude of His mercies. 
— Lam. iii. 32. 

And yet these days of dreariness are sent us from above : 
They do not come in anger, but in faithfulness and love ; 
They come to teach us lessons which bright ones could 
not yield, 

And to leave us blest and thankful when their purpose 
is fulfilled. 

Anon. 

pJEED not distressing thoughts when they rise 
ever so strongly in thee ; nay, though they 
have entered thee, fear them not, but be still 
awhile, not believing in the power which thou 
feelest they have over thee, and it will fall on a 
sudden. It is good for thy spirit, and greatly to 
thy advantage, to be much and variously exer- 
cised by the Lord. Thou dost not know what 
the Lord hath already done, and what He is 
yet doing for thee therein. 

I. Penington. 

Why should I start at the plough of my Lord, 
that maketh deep furrows on my soul? I know 
He is no idle husbandman, He purposeth a crop. 

S. Rutherford. 



50 February 19. 



My meat is to do the will of Hun that sent me* 
and to finish His work. — John iv. 34. 

I am glad to think 
I am not bound to make the world go right ; 
But only to discover and to do, 
With cheerful heart, the work that God appoints 

I will trust in Him, 
That He can hold His own ; and I will take 
His will, above the work He sendeth me, 
To be my chiefest good. 

J. Ingelow 

T^ON'T object that your duties are so insig- 
nificant ; they are to be reckoned of infinite 
significance, and alone important to you. Were 
it buc the more perfect regulation of your apart- 
ments, the sorting-away of your clothes ana 
trinkets, the arranging of your papers, — " What- 
soever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy 
might," and ail thy worth and constancy. Much 
more, if your duties are of evidently higher, wider 
scope 3 if you have brothers, sisters, a father, a 
mother, weigh earnestly what claim does lie upon 
you, on behalf of each, and consider it as the 
one thing needful, to pay them more and more 
honestly and nobly what you owe. What matter 
how miserable one is, if one can do that ? That is 
the sure and steady disconnection and extinction 
of whatsoever miseries one has in this world. 

T. Carlyle 



February 20. 51 



Let us not therefore judge one another any more : 
but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling- 
block^ or an occasion to fall, in his brother's way. — 
Rom. xiv. 13. 

Them that were entering hi, ye hindered. — Luke 
xi. 52. 

My mind was ruffled with small cares to-day, 
x\nd I said pettish words, and did not keep 
Long-suffering patience well, and now how deep 
My trouble for this sin ! in vain I weep 
For foolish words I never can unsay. 



VEXATION arises, and our expressions 



of impatience hinder others from taking 
it patiently. Disappointment, ailment, or even 
weather depresses us ; and our look or tone of 
depression hinders others from maintaining a 
cheerful and thankful spirit. We say an unkind 
thing, and another is hindered in learning the 
holy lesson of charity that thinketh no evil. We 
say a provoking thing, and our sister or brother 
is hindered in that day's effort to be meek. How 
sadly, too, we may hinder without word or act ! 
For wTong feeling is more infectious than wrong 
doing ; especially the various phases of ill tem- 
per, — gloominess, touchiness, discontent, irritabil- 
ity, — do we not know how catching these are ? 



H. S. Sutton 




F. R. Havergal. 



52 February 21. 



If ye then, being evil, know how to give good 
gifts unto your children, how much more shall your 
Father which is in heaven give good gifts to them 
that ask Him. — MATT. vii. II. 

For His great love has compassed 

Our nature, and our need 
We kaow not ; but He knoweth, 

And He will bless indeed. 
Therefore, O heavenly Father, 

Give what is best to me ; 
And take the wants unanswered, 

As offerings made to Thee. 

Anon. 

TT 7HATS0EYER we ask which is not for our 
good. He will keep it back from us. And 
surely in this there is no less of love than in the 
granting what we desire as we ought. Will not 
the same love which prompts you to give a good, 
prompt you to keep back an evil, thing? If. in 
our blindness, not knowing what to ask, we pray 
for things which would turn in our hands to sor- 
row and death, will not our Father, out of His 
very love, deny us? How awful would be our lot, 
if our wishes should straightway pass into reali- 
ties ; if we were endowed with a power to bring 
about all that we desire ; if the inclinations of our 
will were followed by fulfilment of our hasty 
wishes, and sudden longings were always granted. 
One day we shall bless Him. not more for what 
He has granted than for what He has denied. 

H. E. Manning. 



February 22. 



53 



Be careful for nothing ; but in everything by 
grayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your 
requests be made known unto God. — Phil. iv. 6. 

We tell Thee of our care, 
Of the sore burden, pressing day by day, 
And in the light and pity of Thy face. 

The burden melts away. 

We breathe our secret wish, 
The importunate longing which no man may see ; 
We ask it humbly, or, more restful still, 

We leave it all to Thee. 

Susan Coolidge 

HP HAT prayer which does not succeed in mode- 
rating our wish, in changing the passionate 
desire into still submission, the anxious, tumul- 
tuous expectation into silent surrender, is no true 
prayer, and proves that we have not the spirit of 
true prayer. That life is most holy in which there 
is least of petition and desire, and most of wait- 
ing upon God ; that in which petition most often 
passes into thanksgiving. Pray till prayer makes 
you forget your own wish, and leave it or merge it 
in God's will. The Divine wisdom has given us 
prayer, not as a means whereby to obtain the 
good things of earth, but as a means whereby we 
learn to do without them • not as a means wmere- 
by we escape evil, but as a means wdiereby we 
become strong to meet it. 

F. W. Robe 



54 



February 23. 



Let the Lord do that which is good in His sight. 
— I CHRON. xix. 13. 

Let Thy mercy , 0 Lord, be upon tis, according as 
we hope in Thee. — Ps. xxxiii. 22. 



I cannot feel 
That all is well, when darkening clouds conceal 

The shining sun ; 

But then, I know 
He lives and loves ; and say, since it is so, 

Thv will be done. 



O felt evil or defect becomes divine until it 



is inevitable : and only when resistance to 
it is exhausted and hope has fled, does surrender 
cease to be premature. The hardness of our 
task lies here ; that we have to strive against the 
grievous things of life, while hope remains, as if 
they were evil : and then, when the stroke has 
fallen, to accept them from the hand of God, and 
doubt not they are good. But to the loving, 
trusting heart all things are possible : and even 
this instant change, from overstrained will to sor- 
rowful repose, from fullest resistance to complete 
surrender, is realized without convulsion. 



S. G. Browning 




Martinez, u 



February 24. 



55 



These things I have spoken tmto you that in me 
ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have 
tribulation : but be of good cheer j I have overcome 
the world. — John xvi. 33. 

O Thou, the primal fount of life and peace, 
Who shedd'st Thy breathing quiet all around, 

In me command that pain and conflict cease, 
And turn to music every jarring sound. 

J. Sterling, 

A C CUSTOM yourself to unreasonableness and 
injustice. i\bide in peace in the presence 
of God, who sees all these evils more clearly than 
you do, and who permits them. Be content with 
doing with calmness the little which depends upon 
yourself, and let all else be to you as if it were 
not. 

Fenelon. 

It is rare when injustice, or slights patiently 
borne, do not leave the heart at the close of the 
day filled with marvellous joy and peace. 

Gold Dust 



56 February 25. 



But now tJnis saith the Lord that created thee, O 
Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not j 
for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy 
name ; thou art mine. — Is A. xliii. i. 

Thou art as much His care as if beside 

Nor man nor angel lived in heaven or earth ; 

Thus sunbeams pour alike their glorious tide'; 
To light up worlds, or wake an insect's mirth. 



OD beholds thee individually, whoever thou 



art. " He calls thee by thy name." He 
sees thee, and understands thee. He knows 
what is in thee, all thy own peculiar feelings and 
thoughts, thy dispositions and likings, thy strength 
and thy weakness. He views thee in thy day of 
rejoicing and thy day of sorrow. He sympathizes 
in thy hopes and in thy temptations ; He inter- 
ests himself in all thy anxieties and thy remem- 
brances, in all the risings and fallings of thy spirit. 
He compasses thee round, and bears thee in His 
arms ; He takes thee up and sets thee down. 
Thou dost not love thyself better than He loves 
thee. Thou canst not shrink from pain more 
than He dislikes thy bearing it ; and if He puts 
it on thee, it is as thou wilt put it on thyself, if 
thou art wise, for a greater good afterwards. 



J. Keble. 




J. H Newman. 



February 26. 



57 



The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon 
Hint, to all that call upon Him in truth. — Ps. 
cxlv, 1 8. 

/ sought the Lord, a7id He heard 7ne, and deliv* 
ered me from all my fears. — Ps. xxxiv. 4. 

Be Thou, O Rock of Ages, nigh! 

So shall each murmuring thought be gone ; 
And grief and fear and care shall fly, 

As clouds before the mid-day sun. 



l AKE courage, and turn your troubles, which 



are without remedy, into material for spir- 
itual progress. Often turn to our Lord, who is 
watching you, poor frail little being as you are, 
amid your labors and distractions. He sends you 
help, and blesses your affliction. This thought 
should enable you to bear your troubles patiently 
and gently, for love of Him who only allows you 
to be tried for your own good. Raise your heart 
continually to God, seek His aid, and let the 
foundation stone of your consolation be your hap- 
piness in being His. All vexations and annoy- 
ances will be comparatively unimportant while 
you know that you have such a Friend, such a 
Stay, such a Refuge. May God be ever in your 
heart. 



C. Wesley, 




Francis de Sales 



58 February 27. 



Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou 
dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. — 
Ps. xxxvii. 3. 

Build a little fence of trust 

Around to-day ; 
Fill the space with loving work, 

And therein stay ; 
Look not through the sheltering bars 

Upon to-morrow, 
God will help thee bear what comes, 

Of joy or sorrow. 



ET us bow our souls and say, " Behold the 



handmaid of the Lord ! " Let us lift up our 
hearts and ask, " Lord, what wouldst thou have 
me to do? " Then light from the opened heaven 
shall stream on our daily task, revealing the grains 
of gold, where yesterday all seemed dust ; a hand 
shall sustain us and our daily burden, so that, 
smiling at yesterday's fears, we shall say, " This 
is easy, this is light;" every " lion in the way," 
as we come up to it, shall be seen chained, and 
leave open the gates of the Palace Beautiful ; 
and to us, even to us, feeble and fluctuating as 
we are, ministries shall be assigned, and through 
our hands blessings shall be conveyed in which 
the spirits of just men made perfect might 
delight. 



Mary Frances Butts. 




Klizabf.th Charles. 



February 28. 59 



Beloved, let us love one another ; for love ts <> 
God; and every one that loveth is born of God, 
and knoweth God. — 1 John iv. 7. 



So to the calmly gathered thought 
The innermost of life is taught, 
The mystery, dimly understood, 
That love of God is love of good ; 
That to be saved is only this, — 
Salvation from out selfishness. 



HE Spirit of Love, wherever it is, is its own 



blessing and happiness, because it is the 
truth and reality of God in the soul ; and there- 
fore is in the same joy of life, and is the same 
good to itself everywhere and on every occasion. 
Would you know the blessing of all blessings? 
It is this God of Love dwelling in your soul, and 
killing every root of bitterness, which is the pain 
and torment of every earthly, selfish love. For 
all wants are satisfied, all disorders of nature are 
removed, no life is any longer a burden, every day 
is a day of peace, everything you meet becomes 
a help to you, because everything you see or do 
is all done in the sweet, gentle element of Love. 



J. G. Whittier. 




Wm. Law 



6o February 29. 



Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun oj 
Righteousness arise with healing in his wings* — 
Mal. iv. 2. 

0 send out Thy light and Thy truth j let them 
lead me. — Ps. xliii. 3* 

Open our eyes, thou Sun of life and gladness, 

That , we may see that glorious world of Thine! 
It shines for us in vain, while drooping sadness 
Enfolds us here like mist ; come, Power benign, 
Touch our chilled hearts with vernal smile, 
Our wintry course do Thou beguile. 
Nor by the wayside ruins let us mourn, 
"Who have th' eternal towers for our appointed bourn. 

J. Keble. 

J^ECAUSE all those scattered rays of beauty 
and loveliness which we behold spread up 
and down over all the world, are only the emana- 
tions of that inexnausted light which is above ; 
therefore should we love them all in that, and 
climb up always by those sunbeams unto the eter- 
nal Father of lights : we should look upon Him. 
and take from Him the pattern of our lives, and 
always eying Him, should, as Hierocles speaks, 
"polish and shape our souls into the clearest 
resemblance of Him ;"' and in all our behavior in 
this world (that great temple of His) deport our- 
selves decently and reverently, with that humility, 
meekness, and modesty that becomes His house. 

I Ml John Smith. & 16^? 



March 1. 



61 



Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat^ 
cr what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body^ what 
ye shall put on, — Matt. vi. 25. 



One there lives whose guardian eve 
Guides our earthly destiny ; 
One there lives, who, Lord of all, 
Keeps His children lest they fall ; 
Pass we, then, in love and praise, 
Trusting Him through all our days, 
Free from doubt and faithless sorrow, — 
God provideth for the morrow. 

R. Heber 

TT has been well said that no man ever sank 
under the burden of the day. It is when to- 
morrow's burden is added to the burden of to-day 
that the weight is more than a man can bear. 
Never load yourselves so, my friends. If you 
find yourselves so loaded, at least remember 
this : it is your own doing, not God's. He begs 
you to leave the future to Him, and mind the 
present. 

G. Mac Donald 



02 



March 2. 



But to do good and to communicate forget not 
for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. - 
Heb. xiii. 16. 

For this is the message that ye heard from the 
beginning, that we should love one another. — 
I John iii. ii. 

Be useful where thou livest, that they may 
Both want and wish thy pleasing presence still. 

. . . Find out men's wants and will, 
And meet them there. All worldly joys go less 
To the one joy of doing kindnesses. 

G. Herbert. 

T ET the weakest, let the humblest remember, 
that in his daily course he can, if he will, 
shed around him almost a heaven. Kindly words, 
sympathizing attentions, watchfulness against 
wounding men's sensitiveness, — these cost very 
little, but they are priceless in their value. Are 
they not almost the staple of our daily happiness ? 
From hour to hour, from moment to moment, we 
are supported, blest, by small kindnesses. 

F. W. Robertson. 

Small kindnesses, small courtesies, small con- 
siderations, habitually practised in our social in- 
tercourse, give a greater charm to the character 
than the display of great talents and accomplish- 
ments. 

M. A. Kelty, 



March 3. 



63 



/ made haste, and delayed not to keep Thy com- 
mandments. — Ps. cxix. 60. 

Ye know not what shall be on the morrow. — 
James iv. 14. 



Never delay 
To do the duty which the hour brings, 
Whether it be in great or smaller things ; 

For who doth know 
What he shall do the coming day ? 

Anon. 

JT is quite impossible that an idle, floating spirit 
can ever look up with clear eye to God ; 
spreading its miserable anarchy before the sym- 
metry of the creative Mind ; in the midst of a 
disorderly being, that has neither centre nor cir- 
cumference, kneeling beneath the glorious sky, 
that everywhere has both ; and for a life that is 
all failure, turning to the Lord of the silent stars, 
of whose punctual thought it is, that "not one 
faileth." The heavens, with their everlasting 
faithfulness, look down on no sadder contradic- 
tion, than the sluggard and the slattern in their 
prayers. 

J. Martineau 



6 4 



March 4. 



But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of 
God, and there shall no torment touch them. In 
the sight of the unwise they seemed to die : and 
their departure is taken for misery \ and their going 
from us to be utter destruction : but they are in peace. 
— Wisdom of Solomon iii. 1-3. 

But souls that of His own good life partake, 
He loves as His own self; dear as His eve 
They are to Him : He '11 never them forsake : 
When they shall die, then God Himself shall die ; 
They live, they live in blest eternity. 



HOUGH every good man is not so logically 



subtile as to be able by fit mediums to 
demonstrate his own immortality, yet he sees it in 
a higher light : his soul, being purged and enlight- 
ened by true sanctity, is more capable of those 
divine irradiations, whereby it feels itself in con- 
junction with God. It knows that God will 
never forsake His own life which He hath quick- 
ened in it ; He will never den}' those ardent 
desires of a blissful fruition of Himself, which the 
lively sense of His own goodness hath excited 
within it : those breathings and gaspings after an 
eternal participation of Him are but the energy of 
His own breath within us : if He had had any 
mind to destroy it. He would never have shown 
it such things as He hath done. 



Henry More 




Dr. John Smit d. 



March 5. 



65 



And every man that hath this hope in hi?n puri* 
fieth himself, even as He is pure. — i John iii. 3. 

Now, Lord, what wait I for ? 

On Thee alone 
My hope is all rested, — 

Lord, seal me Thine own ! 
Only Thine own to be, 
Only to live to Thee. 

Thine, with each day begun, 
Thine, with each set of sun, 
Thine, till my work is done. 

Anna Warner. 

"^TOW, believe me, God hides some ideal in 
every human soul. At some time in our 
life we feel a trembling, fearful longing to do 
some good thing. Life finds its noblest spring of 
excellence in this hidden impulse to do our best. 
There is a time when we are not content to be 
such merchauts or doctors or lawyers as we see 
on the dead level or below it. The woman 
longs to glorify her womanhood as sister, wife, 
or mother. . . . Here is God, — God standing 
silently at the door all day long, — God whisper- 
ing to the soul, that to be pure and true is to 
succeed in life, and whatever we get short of that 
will burn up like stubble, though the whole world 
try to save it. 

Robert Collyer 



65 



March 6. 



The shadow of a great rock in a weary /and — 
Is A. xxxii. 2. 

/;/ returning and rest shall ye be saved; in 
quietness and in confidence shall he your strength. 
— Is A. xxx. 1 5. 

O Shadow in a sultry land ! 

We gather to Thv breast, 
Whose love, enfolding like the night, 

Brings quietude and rest, 
Glimpse of the fairer life to be, 

In foretaste here possessed. 



TRIVE to see God in all things without ex- 



ception. and acquiesce in His will with 
absolute submission. Do everything for God, 
uniting yourself to Him by a mere upward glance, 
or by the overflowing of your heart towards Him. 
Never be in a hurry : do everything quietly and 
in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inward peace 
for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world 
seems upset. Commend all to God. and then lie 
still and be at rest in His bosom. Whatever 
happens, abide steadfast in a determination to 
cling simply to God, trusting to His eternal love 
for you : and if you find that you have wandered 
forth from this shelter, recall your heart quietly 
and simply. Maintain a holy simplicity of mind, 
and do not smother yourself with a host of cares, 
wishes, or longings, under any pretext. 



C. M. Packard 




Franxis de Sales 



March 7. 



67 



There are diversities of operations, but it is the 
same God which worketh all in all. — i Cor. xii. 6. 

/ form the light, and create darkness ; I make 
peace, and create evilj I the Lord do all these things. 
— Isa. xlv. 7. 

" All is of God that is, and is to be ; 

And God is good." Let this suffice us still, 

Resting in childlike trust upon His will, 

Who moves to His great ends, unthwarted by the ill. 

J. G. Whittier 

HP HIS, then, is of faith, that everything, the very 
least, or what seems to us great, every 
change of the seasons, everything which touches 
us in mind, body, or estate, whether brought about 
through this outward senseless nature, or by the 
will of man. good or bad, is overruled to each of 
us by the all-holy and all-loving will of God. 
Whatever befalls us, however it befalls us, we 
must receive as the will of God. If it befalls us 
through man's negligence, or ill-will, or anger, 
still it is, in every the least circumstance, to us 
the will of God. For if the least thing could 
happen to us without God's permission, it would 
be something out of God's control. God's provi- 
dence or His love would not be what they are. 
Almighty God Himself would not be the same 
God j not the God whom w T e believe, adore, and 
love 

E. B. Pusey 



68 



March 8. 



Study to show thyself approved unto God, a 
workman that needeth not to be ashamed. — 2 Tim. 
ii. 15. 

A nd let us not be weary in well-doing; for in 
due season we shall reap if we faint not. — Gal. 
vi. 9. 

The task Thy wisdom hath assigned, 

Oh, let me cheerfully fulfil ; 
In all my works Thy presence find, 

And prove Thine acceptable will. 

C. Wesley. 

" W7 HAT is m > T next dut > T? What is the thin s 



that lies nearest to me?" " That be- 
longs to your every-day history. No one can 
answer that question but yourself. Your next duty 
is just to determine what your next duty is. Is 
there nothing you neglect ? Is there nothing you 
know you ought not to do? You would know 
your duty, if you thought in earnest about it. and 
were not ambitious of great things." " Ah, then," 
responded she, " I suppose it is something very 
commonplace, which will make life more dreary 
than ever. That cannot help me." " It will, if it 
be as dreary as reading the newspapers to an old 
deaf aunt. It will soon lead you to something 
more. Your duty will begin to comfort you at 
once, but will at length open the unknown foun- 
tain of life in your heart." 




G. MacDonai d 



March 9. 



69 



Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, in 
all that thou puttest thine hands unto. — Deut. 
xii. 18. 

Be ye thankful. — Col. iii. 15. 



Thou that hast given so much to me, 
Give one thing more, a grateful heart. 
Not thankful when it pleaseth me, 
As if thy blessings had spare days ; 
But such a heart, whose pulse may be 
Thy praise. 

G. Herbert. 

TF any one would tell you the shortest, surest 
way to all happiness and all perfection, he 
must tell you to make it a rule to yourself to 
thank and praise God for everything that hap- 
pens to you. For it is certain that whatevei 
seeming calamity happens to you, if you thank 
and praise God for it, you turn it into a blessing, 
Could you, therefore, w r ork miracles, you could 
not do more for yourself than by this thankful 
spirit ; for it heals with a w r ord speaking, and 
turns all that it touches into happiness. 

Wm. La\t 



March 10. 



When thou passest through the waters, I will be 
with thee j a?id through the rivers, they shall not 
overflow thee : when thou walkest through the fire, 
thou shall not be burned j neither shall the flame 
kindle upon thee. — ISA. xliii. 2. 

I am with thee to deliver thee. — Jer. i. 8. 

When through the deep waters I call thee to go, 
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow ; 
For I will be with thee thy troubles to bless, 
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. 



URN it as thou wilt, thou must give thyself to 



A suffer what is appointed thee. But if we 
did that, God would bear us up at all times in all 
our sorrows and troubles, and God would lay His 
shoulder under our burdens, and help us to bear 
them. For if, with a cheerful courage, we sub- 
mitted ourselves to God, no suffering would be 
unbearable. 



Learn to be as the angel, who could descend 
among the miseries of Bethesda without losing 
his heavenly purity or his perfect happiness. 
Gain healing from troubled waters. Make up 
your mind to the prospect of sustaining a certain 
measure of pain and trouble in your passage 
through life. By the blessing of God this will 
prepare you for it ; it will make you thoughtful 
and resigned without interfering with your cheer- 
fulness. 



Anon. 




J. Tauler. 



J. H Newman 



March 11. 



71 



Cast thy burden upon the Lord, arid He shall sus- 
tain thee ; He shall never suffer the righteous to be 
moved. — Ps. lv. 22. 

Now our wants and burdens leaving, 

To His care, who cares for all, 
Cease we fearing, cease we grieving, 

At His touch our burdens fall. 

S. Longfellow. 

r I ^HE circumstances of her life she could not 



alter, but she took them to the Lord, and 
handed them over into His management ; and 
then she believed that He took it, and she left all 
the responsibility and the worry and anxiety with 
Him. As often as the anxieties returned she 
took them back ; and the result was that, although 
the circumstances remained unchanged, her soul 
was kept in perfect peace in the midst of them. 
And the secret she found so effectual in her out- 
ward affairs, she found to be still more effectual in 
her inward ones, which were in truth even more 
utterly unmanageable. She abandoned her whole 
self to the Lord, with all that she was and all that 
she had ; and, believing that He took that which 
she had committed to Him, she ceased to fret and 
worry, and her life became all sunshine in the 
gladness of belonging to Him. 




H. W. S 



72 



March 12. 



The Lord bless thee, and keep thee j the Lord make 
His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee ; 
the Lord lift tip His countenance upon thee, atidgive 
thee peace. — Num. vi. 24-26. 

O Love, how cheering is Thy ray ! 

All pain before Thy presence flies ; 
Care, anguish, sorrow, melt away, 

Where'er Thy healing beams arise. 
O Father, nothing may I see, 
Nothing desire, or seek, but Thee. 



HERE is a faith in God. and a clear percep- 



tion of His will and designs, and provi- 
dence, and glory, which gives to its possessor a 
confidence and patience and sweet composure, 
under every varied and troubling aspect of events, 
such as no man can realize who has not felt its 
influences in his own heart. There is a com- 
munion with God, in which the soul feels the 
presence of the unseen One. in the profound 
depths of its being, with a vivid distinctness and 
a holy reverence, such as no words can describe. 
There is a state of union with God, I do not say 
often reached, yet it has been attained in this 
world, in which all the past and present and 
future seem reconciled, and eternity is won and 
enjoyed ; and God and man, earth and heaven, 
with all their mysteries, are apprehended in truth 
as they lie in the mind of the Infinite. 



P. Gerhardt. 




Samuel D. Robbins. 



March 13. 



73 



He that abideth in wie^ and I in him, bringeth 
forth much fruit. — John xv. 5. 

Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us 
— Ps xc. 17. 

As some rare perfume in a vase of clay 
Pervades it with a fragrance not its own, 

So. when Thou dwellest in a mortal sou], 

All Heaven's own sweetness seems around it thrown. 

H. B. Stowe 

COME glances of real beauty may be seen in 
their faces, who dwell in true meekness. 
There is a harmony in the sound of that voice 
to which Divine love gives utterance, and some 
appearance of right order in their temper and 
conduct whose passions are regulated. 

John Woolman, 

I believe that no Divine truth can truly dwell 
in any heart, without an external testimony in 
manner, bearing, and appearance, that must reach 
the witness within the heart of the beholder, and 
bear an unmistakable, chough silent, evidence to 
the eternal principle from which it emanates. 

M. A. SCHIMMELPENNINCK 



74 



March 14. 



/ have called upon Thee, for Thou wilt hear me, 
O God : incline Thine ear unto me, and hear my 
speech. — Ps. xvii. 6. 

Ye people, pour out your heart before Him : God 
is a refuge for us. — Ps. Ixii. 8. 

Whate'er the care which breaks thy rest, 
Whate'er the wish that swells thy breast ; 
Spread before God that wish, that care, 
And change anxiety to prayer. 



ROUBLE and perplexity drive us to prayer, 



and prayer driveth away trouble and 
perplexity. 



Whatsoever it is that presses thee, go tell 
thy Father ; put over the matter into His hand, 
and so thou shalt be freed from that dividing, per- 
plexing care that the world is full of. When thou 
art either to do or suffer anything, when thou art 
about any purpose or business, go tell God of it, 
and acquaint Him with it ; yea, burden Him with 
it, and thou hast done for matter of caring ; no 
more care, but quiet, sweet diligence in thy duty, 
and dependence on Him for the carriage of thy 
matters. Roll thy cares, and thyself with them, 
as one burden, all on thy God. 



Anon. 




P. Melancthon. 



R. Leighton- 



March 15. 



75 



Hear me. O Lord, for Thy loving-kindness is 
good: turn unto me according to the multitude oj 
Thy te?ider ?nercies. — Ps. lxix. 16. 

Let, I pray Thee, Thy merciful kindness be for my 
comfort, according to Thy word unto Thy servant, 
— Ps. cxix. 76. 

Love divine has seen and counted 

Every tear it caused to fall ; 
And the storm which Love appointed 

Was its choicest gift of all. 

Anon. 

r\ THAT thou couldst dwell in the knowledge 
and sense of this ! even, that the Lord be- 
nolds thy sufferings with an eye of pity ; and is 
able, not only to uphold thee under them, but 
also to do thee good by them. Therefore, grieve 
not at thy lot, be not discontented, look net out 
at the hardness of thy condition ; but. when the 
storm and matters of vexation are sharp, look up 
to Him who can give meekness and patience, can 
lift up thy head over all, and cause thy life to 
grow, and be a gainer by all. If the Lord God 
help thee proportionably to thy condition of 
affliction and distress, thou wilt have no cause to 
complain, but to bless His name. 

I. Penington 



76 



March 10. 



Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatso- 
ever ye do, do all to the glo7y of God. — i Cor. x. 31. 

With good will doing service, as to the Lord a?id 
nat unto men. — Eph. vl 7. 

A servant, with this clause, 

Makes drudgery divine : 
Who sweeps a room ? as for Thy laws, 

Makes that and th' action fine. 

G. Herbert. 

PURELY the truth must be, that whatsoever in 
k our daily life is lawful and right for us to be 
engaged in, is in itself a part of our obedience to 
God ; a part, that is, of our very religion. When- 
soever we hear people complaining of obstructions 
and hindrances put by the duties of life in the 
way of devoting themselves to God, we may be 
sure they are under some false view or other. 
They do no 4 - look upon their daily work as the 
task God has set them, and as obedience due to 
Him. We may go farther ; and say, not only 
that the duties of life, be they never so toilsome 
and distracting, are no obstructions to a life of 
any degree of inward holiness ; but that they are 
even direct means, when rightly used, to promote 
our sanctification. 

H. E. Manning. 



March 17. 



77 



Where hast thou gleaned to-day? — Ruth ii. 19 



What have I learnt where'er I 've been, 
From all I 've heard, from all I 've seen ? 
What know I more that 's worth the knowing? 
What have I done that 's worth the doing ? 
What have I sought that I should shun ? 
What duties have I left undone ? 

Pythagoras. 



A LL of this world will soon have passed away. 
But God will remain, and thou, whatever 
thou hast become, good or bad. Thy deeds 
now are the seed-corn of eternity. Each single 
act, in each several day, good or bad, is a portion 
of that seed. Each day adds some line, making 
thee more or less like Him, more or less capable 
of His love. 

E. B. Pusey. 

There is something very solemn in the thought 
that that part of our work which we have left 
undone may first be revealed to us at the end of 
a life filled up, as we had fondly hoped, with 
useful and necessary employments. 

Anna, or Passages from Home Life 



73 



March 18. 



Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion 
one of another j love as brethren^ be pitiful^ be 
courteous. — i Peter iii. 8. 



LITTLE thought will show you how vastly 



your own happiness depends on the way 
other people bear themselves toward you. The 
looks and tones at your breakfast- table, the con- 
duct of your fellow-workers or employers, the 
faithful or unreliable men you deal with, what 
people say to you on the street, the way your 
cook and housemaid do their work, the letters 
you get, the friends or foes you meet, — these 
things make up very much of the pleasure oi 
misery of your day. Turn the idea around, and 
remember that just so much are you adding to 
the pleasure or the misery of other people's days. 
And this is the half of the matter which you can 
control. Whether any particular day shall brine 
to you more of happiness or of suffering is largeh 
beyond your power to determine. Whether each 
day of your life shall give happiness or suffering 
rest* with yourself. 



Make us of one heart and mind ; 
Courteous, pitiful, and kind ; 
Lowly, meek, in thought and word, 
Altogether like our Lord. 



C. Wesley 




George S. Merriam 



March 19. 



79 



Showing all good fidelity* that they may adorn 
the doctrine of God o it r Saviour in all things, — 
Titus ii. 10. 

If on our daily course our mind 
Be set to hallow all we find, 
New treasures still, of countless price, 
God will provide for sacrifice, 

J. Keble. 

TF content and thankfulness, if the patient bear- 
ing of evil, be duties to God, they are the 
duties of every day, and in every circumstance 
of our life. If we are to follow Christ, it must be 
in our common w r ay of spending every day. 

Wm. Law. 

He who is faithful over a few things is a lord 
of cities. It does not matter whether you preach 
in Westminster Abbey, or teach a ragged class, 
so you be faithful. The faithfulness is all. 

G. MacDonald. 

I would have you invoke God often through 
the day, asking Him to kindle a love for your 
vocation within you. and saying with St. Paul, 
" ' Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do ? ' 
Wouldst Thou have me serve Thee in the lowest 
ministries of Thy house ? too happy if I may but 
serve Thee anyhow." And when any special 
thing goes against you, ask " Wouldst Thou have 
me do it? Then, unworthy though I be, I will 
do it gladly." 

Francis de Sales. 



8o 



March 20. 



Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, a?id Him 
only shalt thou serve. — Matt. iv. 10. 

Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and 
that seek Him with the whole heart. — Ps. cxix. 2. 

The comfort of a mind at rest 
From every care Thou hast not blest ; 
A heart from all the world set free, 
To worship and to wait on Thee. 

4- L. Waring, 

T3 ESIGN every forbidden joy ; restrain every 
wish that is not referred to His will ; ban- 
ish all eager desires, all anxiety. Desire only the 
will of God ; seek Him alone, and you will find 
peace. 

Fenelon. 

" I 've been a great deal happier since I have 
given up thinking about what is easy and pleasant, 
and being discontented because I could n't have 
my own will. Our life is determined for us • 
and it makes the mind very free when we give up 
wishing, and only think of bearing what is laid 
upon us, and doing w r hat is given us to do." 

George Eliot 



March 21. 



81 



Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need 
of all these things. — Matt. vi. 32. 



All as God wills, who wisely heeds 

To give or to withhold ; 
And knoweth more of all my needs 

Than all my prayers have told. 

J. G. Whittier. 



ORD, I know not what I ought to ask of 



Thee ; Thou only knowest what we need ; 
Thou lovest me better than I know how to love 
myself. O Father ! give to Thy child that which 
he himself knows not how to ask. I dare not 
ask either for crosses or consolations ; I simply 
present myself before Thee ; I open my heart to 
Thee. Behold my needs which I know not 
myself; see, and do according to Thy tender 
mercy. Smite, or heal ; depress me, or raise me 
up ) I adore all Thy purposes without knowing 
them ; I am silent ; I offer myself in sacrifice ; I 
yield myself to Thee ; I would have no other 
desire than to accomplish Thy will. Teach me 
to pray ; pray Thyself in me. 




Fenelon 



82 



March 22. 



He that co?ttemneth small things shall fall by 
little and little. — Ecclus. xix. i. 

One finger's-breadth at hand will mar 
A world of light in heaven afar, 
A mote eclipse a glorious star, 



SINGLE sin, however apparently trifling, 



however hidden in some obscure corner 
of our consciousness, — a sin which we do not 
intend to renounce, — is enough to render real 
prayer impracticable. A course of action not 
wholly upright and honorable, feelings not en- 
tirely kind and loving, habits not spotlessly 
chaste and temperate, — any of these are impas- 
sable obstacles. If we know of a kind act which 
we might, but do not intend to, perform, — if we 
be aw r are that our moral health requires the 
abandonment of some pleasure which yet we do 
not intend to abandon, here is cause enough for 
the loss of all spiritual power » 



It is astonishing how soon the whole con- 
science begins to unravel, if a single stitch 
drops ; one little sin indulged makes a hole you 
could put your head through. 



An eyelid hide the sky. 



J. Keble. 




F. P. COBBE, 



Charles Buxton 



March 23. 



83 



Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou 
doest. — 3 John 5. 

And this also we wish, even your perfection. — 
2 Cor. xiii. 9. 

In all the little things of life, 

Thyself, Lord, may I see ; 
In little and in great alike 

Reveal Thy love to me. 

So shall my undivided life 
To Thee, my God, be given ; 

And all this earthly course below 
Be one dear path to heaven. 

H. Bonar 

TN order to mould thee into entire conformity 
to His will, He must have thee pliable in 
His hands, and this pliability is more quickly 
reached by yielding in the little things than even 
by the greater. Thy one great desire is to follow 
Him fully ; canst thou not say then a continual 
" yes " to all His sweet commands, whether small 
or great, and trust Him to lead thee by the 
shortest road to thy fullest blessedness ? 

H. W. S. 

With meekness, humility, and diligence, apply 
yourself to the duties of your condition. They 
are the seemingly little things which make no 
noise that do the business. 

Henry More 



8 4 



March 24. 



I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep j for 
Thou, Lord, only makest 7ne dwell in safety. — 
Ps. iv. 8. 

He giveth His beloved sleep. — Ps. cxxvii. 2. 

He guides our feet, He guards our way, 
His morning smiles bless all the day; 
He spreads the evening veil, and keeps 
The silent hours while Israel sleeps. 



E sleep in peace in the arms of God, when 



we yield ourselves up to His providence, 
in a delightful consciousness of His tender mer- 
cies ; no more restless uncertainties, no more 
anxious desires, no more impatience at the place 
we are in ; for it is God who has put us there, 
and who holds us in His arms. Can we be 
unsafe where He has placed us ? 



One evening when Luther saw a little bird 
perched on a tree, to roost there for the night, he 
said, u This little bird has had its supper, and 
now it is getting ready to go to sleep here, quite 
secure and content, never troubling itself what its 
food will be, or where its lodging on the morrow. 
Like David, it ' abides under the shadow of the 
Almighty.' It sits on its little twig content, and 
lets God take care." 



I. Watts 




F£nelon. 



March 25. 



85 



/ will hear what God the Lord will speak : for 
He will speak peace unto His people. — Ps. lxxxv= 8. 



There is a voice, " a still, small voice " of love 

Heard from above ; 
But not amidst the din of earthly sounds, 

Which here confounds ; 
By those withdrawn apart it best is heard, 
And peace, sweet peace, breathes in each gentle word. 

Anonymous. 



T1TE speaketh, but it is with us to hearken or no, 
It is much, yea, it is everything, not to 
turn away the ear, to be willing to hearken, not 
to drown His voice. " The secret of the Lord is 
with them that fear Him." It is a secret, hushed 
voice, a gentle intercourse of heart to heart, a 
still, small voice, whispering to the inner ear. 
How should we hear it, if we fill our ears and our 
hearts with the din of this world, its empty 
tumult, its excitement, its fretting vanities, or 
cares, or passions, or anxieties, or show, 01 
rivalries, and its whirl of emptinesses? 

E. B. Pusey 



86 



March 26. 



Arz they not all ministering spirits? — Heb 



That purest heaven, be to other souls 
The cup of strength in some great agony, 
Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love, 
Be the sweet presence of a good diffused, 
And in diffusion ever more intense ! 
So shall I join the choir invisible 
Whose music is the gladness of the world. 



ERTAINLY, in our own little sphere, it is 



^ not the most active people to whom we 
owe the most. Among the common people whom 
we know, it is not necessarily those who are 
busiest, not those who, meteor- like, are ever on the 
rush after some visible charge and work. It is the 
lives, like the stars, which simply pour down on us 
the calm light of their bright and faithful being, 
up to which we look and out of which we gather 
the deepest calm and courage. It seems to me 
that there is reassurance here for many of us who 
seem to have no chance for active usefulness. 
We can do nothing for our fellow-men. But still 
it is good to know that we can be something for 
them ; to know (and this we may know surely) 
that no man or woman of the humblest sort can 
really be strong, gentle, pure, and good, with- 
out the world being better for it, without some- 
body being helped and comforted by the very 
existence of that goodness, 



May I reach 



George Eliot. 




Phillips Lrooks 



March 27. 



87 



If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and 
His love is perfected in us. — i John iv. 12. 

And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth 
in Him, and He in him. And hereby we know 
that He abideth in its, by the Spirit which He hath 
given us. — 1 John iii. 24. 

Abide in me ; overshadow by Thy love 
Each half-formed purpose and dark thought of sin $ 
Quench, ere it rise, each selfish, low desire, 
And keep my soul as Thine, calm and divine. 



HE Spirit of Love must work the works, and 



speak the tones, of Love. It cannot exist 
and give no sign, or a false sign. It cannot be a 
spirit of Love, and mantle into irritable and selfish 
impatience. It cannot be a spirit of Love, and 
at the same time make self the prominent object. 
It cannot rejoice to lend itself to the happiness of 
others, and at the same time be seeking its own. 
It cannot be generous, and envious. It cannot 
be sympathizing, and unseemly ; self-forgetful, and 
vain-glorious. It cannot delight in the rectitude 
and purity of other hearts, as the spiritual 
elements of their peace 3 and yet unnecessarily 
suspect them. 



H. B. Stowe. 




J. H. Thom 



88 



March 28. 



Giving thanks always for all things unto God 
— Eph. V. 20. 

For blessings of the fruitful season, 

For work and rest, for friends and home, 

For the great gifts of thought and reason, — 
To praise and bless Thee, Lord, we come. 

Ves, and for weeping and for wailing, 

For bitter hail and blighting frost, 
For high hopes on the low earth trailing, 

For sweet joys missed, for pure aims crossed. 

E. ScUDDERr 

ATOTWITHSTANDING all that I have suf- 
fered, notwithstanding all the pain and 
weariness and anxiety and sorrow that necessa- 
rily enter into life, and the imvard errings that are 
worse than all. I would end my record with 
a devout thanksgiving to the great Author of my 
being. For more and more am I unwilling to 
make my gratitude to Him what is commonly 
called "a thanksgiving for mercies," — for any 
benefits or blessings that are peculiar to myself, 
or my friends, or indeed to any man. Instead of 
this, I would have it to be gratitude for all that 
belongs to my life and being, — for joy and 
sorrow, for health and sickness, for success and 
disappointment, for virtue and for temptation, for 
life and death \ because I believe that all is meant 
for good. 

Orville Dewev 



March 29. 



89 



There shall no evil befall thee. — Ps. xci. 10. 

Whoso hearkenetn unto me shall dwell safely^ 
and shall be quiet from fear of evil. — Prov. i. 33. 

I ask not, " Take away this weight of care ; " 
Xo, for that love I pray that all can bear, 

And for the faith that whatsoe'er befall 
Must needs be good, and for my profit prove, 
Since from my Father's heart most rich in love, 

And from His bounteous hands it comethall. 

C. J. P. Spitta 



"gE like the promontory, against which the 
waves continually break ; but it stands firm, 
and tames the fury of the water around it. Un- 
happy am I, because this has happened to me? 
Xot so, but happy am I, though this has hap- 
pened to me, because I continue free from pain, 
neither crushed by the present, nor fearing the 
future. Will then this which has happened prevent 
thee from being just, magnanimous, temperate, 
prudent, secure against inconsiderate opinions 
and falsehood? Remember, too, on every occa- 
sion which leads thee to vexation to apply this 
principle : that this is not a misfortune, but that 
to bear it nobly is good fortune. 

Marcus Antoninus 



go 



March 30. 



Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and after- 
ward receive 7?ie to glory . — Ps. lxxiii. 24. 

There re?nai?ieth therefore a rest to the people oj 
God. — Heb. iv. 9. 

Guide us through life ; and when at last 

We enter into rest, 
Thy tender arms around us cast, 

And fold us to Thy breast. 



0 forth to meet the solemnities and to con- 



quer the trials of existence, believing in a 
Shepherd of your souls. Then faith in Him will 
support you in duty, and duty firmly done will 
strengthen faith ; till at last, when all is over here, 
and the noise and strife of the earthly battle fades 
upon your dying ear, and you hear, instead 
thereof, the deep and musical sound of the ocean 
of eternity, and see the lights of heaven shining 
on its waters still and fair in their radiant rest, 
your faith will raise the song of conquest, and in 
its retrospect of the life which has ended, and 
its forward glance upon the life to come, take 
up the poetic inspiration of the Hebrew king, 
" Surely goodness and mercy have followed me 
all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the 
house of the Lord forever." 



H. F. Lyte 




Stopford A. Brooke. 



March 31. 



9i 



Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the 
field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace 
with thee. A nd thou shalt know that thy tabernacle 
shall be in peace. — Job v. 23, 24. 



Love had he found in huts where poor men lie ; 
His daily teachers had been woods and rills, 
The silence that is in the starry sky, 
The sleep that is among the lonely hills. 



HAT spirit which suffices quiet hearts, which 



seems to come forth to such from every 
dry knoll of sere grass, from every pine-stump, 
and half-embedded stone, on which the dull 
March sun shines, comes forth to the poor and 
hungry, and to such as are of simple taste. II 
thou fill thy brain with Boston and New York, 
with fashion and covetousness. and wilt stimulate 
thy jaded senses with wine and French coffee, 
thou shalt find no radiance of wisdom in the 
lonely waste of the pine-woods. 



W. Wordsworth, 




R. W. Emerson 



92 



April 1. 



For Thou lovest all the things that are, and ab- 
horrest nothing which Thou hast made ; for never 
tuouldest Thou have made any thing, if Thou hadst 
hated it. But Thou sparest all : for they are Thine, 
O Lord, Thou lover of souls. — Wisdom of Solo- 
mon xi. 24, 26. 

He prayeth best who loveth best 
All things both great and small ; 

For the dear God who loveth us, 
He made and loveth all. 

S. T. Coleridge. 



O know that Love alone was the beginning 



of nature and creature, that nothing but 
Love encompasses the whole universe of things, 
that the governing Hand that overrules all, the 
watchful Eye that sees through all, is nothing but 
omnipotent and omniscient Love, using an infin- 
ity of wisdom, to save every misguided creature 
from the miserable works of its own hands, and 
make happiness and glory the perpetual inheri- 
tance of all the creation, is a reflection that must 
be quite ravishing to every intelligent creature 
that is sensible of it. 




Wm. Law 



April 2. 



93 



Know ye not that ye ai r e the temple of God, and 
that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? — I Cor. 
Hi. 1 6. 

Father ! replenish with Thy grace 

This longing heart of mine ; 
Make it Thy quiet dwelling-place, 

Thy sacred inmost shrine ! 

Angelus Silesius. 



OT man's manifold labors, but his manifold 



cares, hinder the presence of God. . . . 
Whatsoever thou doest, hush thyself to thine 
own feverish vanities, and busy thoughts, and 
cares ; in silence seek thy Father's face, and the 
light of His countenance will stream dowm upon 
thee. He will make a secret cell in thine heart, 
and when thou enterest there, there shalt thou 
find Him. And if thou hast found Him there, 
all around shall reflect Him, all shall speak to 
Him, and He will speak through all. Outwardly 
thou mayest be doing the work of thy calling ; 
inwardly, if thou commend thy work to God, 
thou mayest be with Him in the third Heaven, 




E. B. Pusey. 



94 



April 3. 



As for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered 
thee so to do. — Deut. xviii. 14. 



Lord, for the erring thought 
Not into evil wrought ; 
Lord, for the wicked will 
Betrayed and baffled still ; 
For the heart from itself kept, 
Our Thanksgiving accept. 



HAT an amazing, what a blessed dispropor- 



* * tion between the evil we do, and the evil 

we are capable of doing, and seem sometimes on 
the very verge of doing ! If my soul has grown 
tares, when it w 7 as full of the seeds of nightshade, 
how happy ought I to be ! And that the tares 
have not wholly strangled the wheat, what a 
wonder it is ! We ought to thank God daily for 
the sins we have not committed. 



We give thanks often with a tearful, doubtful 
voice, for our spiritual mercies positive ; but what 
an almost infinite field there is for mercies nega- 
tive ! We cannot even imagine all that God has 
suffered us not to do, ?wt to be. 



You are surprised at your imperfections — 
why? I should infer from that, that your self- 
knowledge is small. Surely, you might rather be 
astonished that you do not fall into more frequent 
and more grievous faults, and thank God for His 
upholding grace. 



W. D. How 7 ELLS. 




F. W. Faber. 



F. R. Havergal. 



Jean Nicolas Grou. 



April 4. 



95 



Well done, good and faithful servant : thou hast 
been faithful over a few things, I will make thei 
rider over many things : enter thou into the joy of 
thy Lord. — Matt. xxv. 23. 

O Father ! help us to resign 

Our hearts, our strength, our wills to Thee ; 
Then even lowliest work of Thine 

Most noble, blest, and sweet will be. 

H. M. Kimball. 

"^TOTHING is too little to be ordered by our 



^ Father ; nothing too little in which to see 
His hand ; nothing, which touches our souls, too 
little to accept from Him ; nothing too little to 
be done to Him. 



A soul occupied with great ideas best performs 
small duties ; the divinest views of life penetrate 
most clearly into the meanest emergencies ; so 
far from petty principles being best proportioned 
to petty trials, a heavenly spirit taking up its 
abode with us can alone sustain well the daily 
toils, and tranquilly pass the humiliations of our 
condition. 



Whoso neglects a thing which he suspects he 
ought to do, because it seems to him too small a 
thing, is deceiving himself ; it is not too little, 
but too great for him, that he doeth it not. 




E. B. Pusey. 



J. Martineau c 



E. B Pusey. 



9 6 



April 5. 



Yet I have left vie seven thousand in Israel, all the 
knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every 
mouth which hath not kissed him. — i Kings xix. 18. 

Back then, complainer ; loathe thy life no more, 
Nor deem thyself upon a desert shore, 

Because the rocks the nearer prospect close. 
Yet in fallen Israel are there hearts and eyes 
That day by day in prayer like thine arise : 

Thou know'st them not, but their Creator knows. 

J. Keble. 

LIE went down to the great school with a glim- 
mering of another lesson in his heart, — 
the lesson that he who has conquered his own 
coward spirit has conquered the whole outward 
world \ and that other one which the old prophet 
learnt in the cave in Mount Horeb, when he hid 
his face, and the still small voice asked, " What 
doest thou here. Elijah?" that however we 
may fancy ourselves alone on the side of good, 
the King and Lord of men is nowhere without 
His witnesses ; for in every society, however 
seemingly corrupt and godless, there are those 
who have not bowed the knee to Baal. 

Thomas Hughes 

So, then. Elijah's life had been no failure, after 
all. Seven thousand at least in Israel had been 
braced and encouraged by his example, and 
silently blessed him, perhaps, for the courage 
which they felt. In God's world, for those who 
are in earnest there is no failure. - No work truly 
done, no word earnestly spoken, no sacrifice 
freely made, was ever made in vain. 

F. W. Robertson, 



April 6. 



97 



In the multitude of my thoughts within 7ne Thy 
comforts delight my soul. — Ps. xciv. 19. 

Perplexed, but not in despair j cast down, but not 
destroyed. — 2 Cor. iv. 8, 9. 

Discouraged in the work of life, 

Disheartened by its load, 
Shamed by its failures or its fears, 

I sink beside the road ; — 
But let me only think of Thee, 
And then new heart springs up in me. 

S. Longfellow. 

T^ISCOURAGEMENT is an inclination to 
give up all attempts after the devout life, 
in consequence of the difficulties by which it is 
beset, and our already numerous failures in it. 
We lose heart ; and partly in ill-temper, partly in 
real doubt of our own ability to persevere, we 
first grow querulous and peevish with God, and 
then relax in our efforts to mortify ourselves and 
to please Him. It is a sort of shadow of despair, 
and will lead us into numberless venial sins the 
first half-hour we give way to it. 

F. W. Faber. 

Never let us be discouraged with ourselves ; 
it is not when we are conscious of our faults that 
we are the most wicked ; on the contrary, we are 
less so. We see by a brighter light \ and let us 
remember, for our consolation, that we never per- 
ceive our sins till we begin to cure them. 

Fen elon 



9 8 



April 7. 



That ye may prove what is that good, and accept- 
able, and perfect will oj God. — Rom. xii. 2. 

Thou knowest what is best ; 

And who but Thee, O God, hath power to know ? 
In Thy great will my trusting heart shall rest ; 

Beneath that will my humble head shall bow. 



O those who are His, all things are not only 



x easy to be borne, but even to be gladly 
chosen. Their will is united to that will which 
moves heaven and earth, which gives laws to 
angels, and rules the courses of the world. It is 
a wonderful gift of God to man, of which we that 
know so little must needs speak little. To be at 
the centre of that motion, where is everlasting 
rest ; to be sheltered in the peace of God ; even 
new to dwell in heaven, where all hearts are 
stayed, and all hopes fulfilled. " Thou shalt 
keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed 



Study to follow His will in all, to have no will 
but His. This is thy duty, and thy wisdom. 
Nothing is gained by spurning and struggling but 
to hurt and vex thyself ; but by complying all is 
gained — sweet peace. It is the very secret, the 
mystery of solid peace within, to resign all to His 
will, to be disposed of at His pleasure, without 
the least contrary thought. 



T. C. Upham. 




on Thee. 



H. E. Manning. 



R. Leighton. 



April 8. 



99 



The Lord is my shepherd j I shall not want. — 
Ps. xxiii. I. 

They that seek the Lord shall not want any good, 
thing. — Ps. xxxiv. 10. 

God, who the universe doth hold 

In his fold, 
Is my shepherd kind and heedful, 
Is my shepherd, and doth keep 

Me, his sheep, 
Still supplied with all things needful. 

F. Davison. 



r HO is it that is your shepherd ? The Lord ! 



Oh, my friends, what a wonderful an- 
nouncement ! The Lord God of heaven and 
earth, the almighty Creator of all things, He who 
holds the universe in His hand as though it were 
a very little thing, — He is your shepherd, and 
has charged Himself with the care and keeping 
of you, as a shepherd is charged with the care and 
keeping of his sheep. If your hearts could really 
take in this thought, you would never have a fear 
or a care again ; for with such a shepherd, how 
could it be possible for you ever to want any good 
thing ? 




H. W. S 



IOO 



April 9. 



Watch and pray^ that ye enter not i?ito temptation, 
— Matt. xxvi. 41. 

I want a sober mind, 

A self-renouncing will, 
That tramples down and casts behind 

The baits of pleasing ill ; 
A spirit still prepared, 

And armed with jealous care, 
Forever standing on its guard, 

And watching unto prayer. 



HEN you say, " Lead us not into tempta- 



tion," you must in good earnest mean to 
avoid in your daily conduct those temptations 
which you have already suffered from. When 
you say, " Deliver us from evil," you must mean 
to struggle against that evil in your hearts, which 
you are conscious of, and which you pray to be 
forgiven. ... To watch and pray are surely in 
our power, and by these means we are certain of 
getting strength. You feel your weakness ; you 
fear to be overcome by temptation : then keep 
out of the way of it. This is watching. Avoid 
society which is likely to mislead you ; flee from 
the very shadow of evil ; you cannot be too care- 
ful \ better be a little too strict than a little too 
easy, — it is the safer side. Abstain from reading 
books which are dangerous to you. Turn from 
bad thoughts when they arise. 



C. Wesley. 




T. H. Newman 



April 10. 



IOI 



Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, 
and not unto men. — Col. iii. 23. 

Not with eye-service, as men- ft leasers j but in 
singleness of heart, fearing God. — Col. iii. 22. 



HERE is no action so slight nor so mean but 



it may be done to a great purpose, and 
ennobled therefore ; nor is any purpose so great 
but that slight actions may help it, and may be so 
done as to help it much, most especially, that 
chief of all purposes — the pleasing of God. 



Every duty, even the least duty, involves the 
whole principle of obedience. And little duties 
make the will dutiful, that is, supple and prompt 
to obey. Little obediences lead into great. The 
daily round of duty is full of probation and of dis- 
cipline ; it trains the will, heart, and conscience. 
We need not to be prophets or apostles. The 
commonest life may be full of perfection. The j 
duties of home are a discipline for the ministries 
of heaven. 



Teach me, my God and King, 
In all things Thee to see, 

And what I do in anything, 
To do it as for Thee. 



G. Herbert, 




J. Ruskin 



H. E. Manning 



102 



April 11. 



Wherefore ^ beloved . . . be diligent that ye may 
be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blame- 
less. — 2 Peter iii. 14. 

His conscience knows no secret stings, 

While grace and joy combine 
To form a life whose holy springs 

Are hidden and divine. 

L Watts 

"CVEX the smallest discontent of conscience 
may render turbid the whole temper of the 
mind j but only produce the effort that restores 
its peace, and over the whole atmosphere a breath 
of unexpected purity is spread : doubt and irrita- 
bility pass as clouds away ; the withered sympa- 
thies of earth and home open their leaves and 
live : and through the clearest blue the deep is 
seen of the heaven where God resides. 

J. Martineau. 

The state of mind which is described as meek- 
ness, or quietness of spirit, is characterized in a 
high degree by inward harmony. There is not, 
as formerly, that inward jarring of thought con- 
tending with thought, and conscience asserting 
rights which it could not maintain. 

T. C. Upham. 



April 12. 



103 



Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, 
live in peace; a?id the God of love and peace shall 
be with you. — 2 Cor. xiii. 11. 

He that loveth not his brother whom he hath 
seen, how can he love God whom lie hath not seen f 
— 1 John iv . 20. 

Lord ! subdue our selfish will ; 

Each to each our tempers suit, 
By Thy modulating skill, 

Heart to heart, as lute to lute. 

C. Wesley. 

TT requires far more of the constraining love of 
Christ to love our cousins and neighbors as 
members of the heavenly family, than to feel the 
heart warm to our suffering brethren in Tuscany 
or Madeira. To love the whole Church is one 
thing ; to love — that is, to delight in the graces 
and veil the defects — of the person who misun- 
derstood me and opposed my plans yesterday, 
whose peculiar infirmities grate on my most sen- 
sitive feelings, or whose natural faults are precisely 
those from which my natural character most re- 
volts, is quite another. 

Elizabeth Charles, 



104 



April 13. 



In all these things we are more than conquerors 
through Hint that loved us. — Rom. viii. 37. 



Thus my soul before her God 

Lieth still, nor speaketh more, 
Conqueror thus o'er pain and wrong, 

That once smote her to the core ; 
Like a silent ocean, bright 
With her God's great praise and light. 

Winkler, 17 13. 

"IV/TY mind is forever closed against embarrass- 
ment and perplexity, against uncertainty, 
doubt, and anxiety ; my heart against grief and 
desire. Calm and unmoved, I look down on all 
things, for I know that I cannot explain a sin- 
gle event, nor comprehend its connection with 
that which alone concerns me. In His world 
all things prosper ; this satisfies me, and in this 
belief I stand fast as a rock. . . . My breast is 
steeled against annoyance on account of per- 
sonal offences and vexations, or exultation in 
personal merit ; for my whole personality has 
disappeared in the contemplation of the purpose 
of my being. 

J. G. FlCHTE 



April 14. 



105 



All things are yours j whether Paid, or Apollos, 
or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things 
present, or things to come ; all are yours. — 1 Cor. 
iii. 21, 22. 

As having nothing, and yet possessing all 
things. — 2 Cor. vi. 10. 

Old friends, old scenes, will lovelier be, 
As more of Heaven in each we see : 
Some softening gleam of love and prayer 
Shall dawn on every cross and care. 

J. Keble. 

f^\UT of love and hatred, out of earnings, and 
borrowings, and lendings, and losses ; out 
of sickness and pain ; out of wooing and wor- 
shipping ; out of travelling, and voting, and watch- 
ing, and caring ; out of disgrace and contempt, 
comes our tuition in the serene and beautiful 
laws. Let him not slur his lesson ; let him learn 
it by heart. Let him endeavor exactly, bravely, 
and cheerfully, to solve the problem of that life 
which is set before him. And this, by punctual 
action, and not by promises or dreams. Believ- 
ing, as in God, in the presence and favor of the 
grandest influences, let him deserve that favor, 
and learn how to receive and use it, by fidelity 
also to the lower observances. 

R. \V. Emerson 



io6 April 15. 



We know that all thi?igs work together for good 
to them that love God. — Rom. viii. 28. 

As for you, ye thought evil against me ; but God 
meant it imto good. — Gex. L 20. 

Ill that He blesses is our good, 

And unblest good is ill ; 
And all is right that seems most wrong, 

If it be His sweet Will. 

F. W. Faber. 

HPO those who know themselves, all things 
work together for good, and all things 
seem to be, as they are to them, good. The 
goods which God gives seem "very good."" and 
God Himself in them, because they know that 
they deserve them not. The evils which God 
allows and overrules seem also "very good.' ; be- 
cause they see in them His loving hand, put 
forth to heal them of what shuts out God from 
the soul. They love Cxod intensely, in that He 
is so good to them in each, and every, the least 
good, because it is more than they deserve : 
how much more in the greatest ! They love 
God for every, and each, the very greatest of 
what seem evils, knowing them to be, from His 
love, real goods. For He by whom '''all the 
hairs of our head are numbered," and who 
" knoweth whereof we are made," directs every- 
thing which befalls us in life, in perfect wisdom 
and love, to the well-being of our souls. 

E. B. Pusey, 



April 16. 



107 



The very God of peace sanctify yon wholly, and 
I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, 
be preserved blameless. Faithful is He that calleth 
you, who also will do it. — 1 Thess. v. 23, 24. 

Be still, my soul ! — the Lord is on thy side ; 

Bear patiently the cross of grief and pain ; 
Leave to thy God to order and provide, — 

In every change He faithful will remain. 

Hymns from the Land of Luther. 

TT was no relief from temporal evils that the 
Apostle promised. . . . No ; the mercy of 
God might send them to the stake, or the lions ; 
it was still His mercy, if it but kept them " un- 
spotted from the world." It might expose them 
to insult, calumny, and wrong • they received it 
stiU as mercy, if it " established them in every 
good word and work." O brethren ! how many 
of you are content with such faithfulness as this 
on the part of your heavenly Father? Is this, 
indeed, the tone and tenor of your prayers ? 

Wm. Archer Butler, 



io8 



April 17. 



Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his 
triist. — Ps. xl. 4. 

That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life. — 
1 Tim. ii. 2. 

Just to let thy Father do 

What He will ; 
Just to know that He is true, 
And be still ; 
Just to trust Him, this is all! 

Then the day will surely be 
Peaceful, whatsoe'er befall, 

Bright and blessed, calm and free. 

F. R. Havergal. 

"pVERY morning compose your soul for a 
tranquil day, and all through it be careful 
often to recall your resolution, and bring your- 
self back to it, so to say. If something discom- 
poses you, do not be upset, or troubled ; but 
having discovered the fact, humble yourself 
gently before God, and try to bring your mind 
into a quiet attitude. Say to yourself, " Well, I 
have made a false step ; now I must go more 
carefully and watchfully." Do this each time, 
however frequently you fall. When you are at 
peace use it profitably, making constant acts of 
meekness, and seeking to be calm even in the 
most trifling things. Above all, do not be dis- 
couraged ; be patient ; wait ; strive to attain a 
calm, gentle spirit. 

Francis oe Sales. 



j3.pril 18, 



109 



What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but 
to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, 
and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart and with all thy soul f — Deut 
x. 12. 

What asks our Father of His children save 
Justice and mercy and humility, 
A reasonable service of good deeds, 
Pure living, tenderness to human needs, 
Reverence, and trust, and prayer for light to see 
The Master's footprints in our daily ways ? 
No knotted scourge, nor sacrificial knife, 
But the calm beauty of an ordered life 
Whose every breathing is unworded praise. 



IVE up yourself to God without reserve ; in 



singleness of heart, meeting everything 
that every day brings forth, as something that 
comes from God, and is to be received and gone 
through by you, in such an heavenly use of it, as 
you would suppose the holy Jesus would have 
done, in such occurrences. This is an attainable 
degree of perfection. 



We ought to measure our actual lot, and to 
fulfil it ; to be with all our strength that which 
our lot requires and allows. What is beyond it, 
is no calling of ours. How much peace, quiet, 
confidence, and strength, would people attain, if 
they would go by this plain rule. 



J. G. Whittier. 




Wm. Law. 



H. E. Manning, 



I IO 



April 19, 



The hand of our God is upon all them for good 
that seek Him. — Ezra viii. 22. 

Into Thy hand I commit my spirit. — Ps. xxxi. 5. 

Thou layest Thy hand on the fluttering heart, 

And sayest, " Be still ! " 
The silence and shadow are only a part 

Of Thy sweet will ; 
Thy presence is with me, and where Thou art 

I fear no ill. 

F. R. Havergal. 

T3E still and cool in thy own mind and spirit 
from thy own thoughts, and then thou wilt 
feel the principle of God, to turn thy mind to the 
Lord God, from whom life comes ; whereby thou 
mayest receive His strength, and power to allay 
all blustering storms and tempests. That is it 
which works up into patience, into innocency, 
into soberness, into stillness, into stayedness, into 
quietness, up to God with His power. . . . 
Therefore be still awhile from thy own thoughts, 
searching, seeking, desires, and imaginations, and 
be stayed in the principle of God in thee, that it 
may raise thy mind up to God, and stay it upon 
God; and thou wilt find strength from Him, 
and find Him to be a God at hand, a present 
help in the time of trouble and need. 

George Fox. 



April 20. 



in 



/ waited patiently for the Lord ; and He in- 
clined unto me, and heard my cry. — Ps. xl. i. 

Tribulation worketh patience ; and patience, ex- 
perience ; and experience, hope. — Rom. v. 3, 4. 

Lord, we have wandered forth through doubt and sorrow, 
And Thou hast made each step an onward one ; 

And we will ever trust each unknown morrow, — 
Thou wilt sustain us till its work is done. 

S. Johnson. 

TT is possible, when the future is dim, when our 
depressed faculties can form no bright ideas 
of the perfection and happiness of a better world, 
— it is possible still to cling to the conviction of 
God's merciful purpose towards His creatures, of 
His parental goodness even in suffering ; still to 
feel that the path of duty, though trodden with a 
heavy heart, leads to peace ; still to be true to 
conscience ; still to do our work, to resist 
temptation, to be useful, though with diminished 
energy, to give up our wills when we cannot 
rejoice under God's mysterious providence. In 
this patient, though uncheered obedience, we 
become prepared for light. The soul gathers 
force. 

Wm. E. ChanninGc 



112 



April 21. 



Whom having not seen, ye love ; in who7n, 
though now ye see Him not, ye rejoice with joy un- 
speakable, and full of glory. — i Peter i. 8. 

If ye love me, keep my commandments. — John 
xiv. 15. 



O love God is to love His character. For 



instance, God is Purity. And to be pure 
in thought and look, to turn away from unhal- 
lowed books and conversation, to abhor the mo- 
ments in which -we have not been pure, is to love 
God. God is Love ; and to love men till pri- 
vate attachments have expanded into a philan- 
thropy which embraces all, — at last even the evil 
and enemies with compassion, — that is to love 
God. God is Truth. To be true, to hate every 
form of falsehood, to live a brave, true, real life, — 
that is to love God. God is Infinite ; and to 
love the boundless, reaching on from grace to 
grace, adding charity to faith, and rising upwards 
ever to see the Ideal still above us, and to die 
with it unattained, aiming insatiably to be perfect 
even as the Father is perfect, — that is to love 



Blest be Thy love, dear Lord, 
That taught us this sweet way, 

Only to love Thee for Thyself, 
And for that love obey. 



J. Austin. 




God. 



F. W. Robertson, 



April 22. 



ii3 



Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. — Matt. 
xxv. 23. 

Serving the Lord ; rejoicing in hope. — Rom. 
xii. 11, 12. 

If our love were but more simple, 
We should take Him at His word ; 

And our lives would be all sunshine 
In the sweetness of our Lord. 

F. W. Faber. 

T 17 HAT would it be to love absolutely a Being 



absolutely lovely, — to be able to give our 
whole existence, every thought, every act, every 
desire, to that adored One, — to know that He ac- 
cepts it all, and loves us in return as God alone 
can love? . . . This happiness grows forever. 
The larger our natures become, the wider our 
scope of thought, the stronger our will, the more 
fervent our affections, the deeper must be the 
rapture of such God-granted prayer. Every sac- 
rifice resolved on opens wide the gate ; every 
sacrifice accomplished is a step towards the para- 
dise within. Soon it will be no transitory glimpse, 
no rapture of a day, to be followed by clouds and 
coldness. Let us but labor, and pray, and wait, 
and the intervals of human frailty shall grow 
shorter and less dark, the days of our delight in 
God longer and brighter, till at last life shall be 
nought but His love ; our eyes shall never grow 
dim, His smile never turn away. 




F. P. COBBE 



S 



H4 



These were the potters, and those that dwelt 
among plants and Judges : there they dwelt with 
the king for his work. — i Chron. iv. 23. 

A lowlier task 011 them is laid, 
With love to make the labor light ; 

And there their beauty they must shed 
On quiet homes, and lost to sight. 

Changed are their visions high and fair, 

Yet, calm and still, they labor there. 



NYWHERE and everywhere we may dwell 



" with the King for His work." We may 
be in a very unlikely or unfavorable place for 
this ; it may be in a literal country life, with 
little enough to be seen of the " goings " of the 
King around us ; it may be among hedges of all 
sorts, hindrances in all directions ; it may be, 
furthermore, with our hands full of all manner of 
pottery for our daily task. No matter ! The 
King who placed us " there " will come and dwell 
there with us ; the hedges are all right, or He would 
soon do away with them • and it does not follow 
that what seems to hinder our way may not be 
for its very protection ; and as for the pottery, 
why, that is just exactly what He has seen fit to 
put into our hands, and therefore it is, for the 
present, " His work." 



Hymns of the Ages, 




F. R. Havergal, 



April 24. 



Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the 
law of Christ. — Gal. vi. 2. 

Is thy cruse of comfort wasting ? 

Rise and share it with another, 
And through all the years of famine, 

It shall serve thee and thy brother. 
Is thy burden hard and heavy ? 

Do thy steps drag heavily ? 
Help to bear thy brother's burden ; 

God will bear both it and thee. 

Elizabeth Charles. 

TLTOWEVER perplexed you may at any hour 
become about some question of truth, one 
refuge and resource is always at hand : you can 
do something for some one besides yourself. 
When your own burden is heaviest, you can 
always lighten a little some other burden. At 
the times when you cannot see God, there is still 
open to you this sacred possibility, to show God ; 
for it is the love and kindness of human hearts 
through which the divine reality comes home to 
men, whether they name it or not. Let this 
thought, then, stay with you : there may be times 
when you cannot find help, but there is no time 
when you cannot give help. 

George S. Merriam. 



n6 



April 25. 



Surely, I have behaved and qtrieted ?nyself, as a 
child that is weaned of his mother; my soul is 
even as a weaned child. — Ps. cxxxi. 2. 



Quiet, Lord, my froward heart, 
Make me teachable and mild, 
Upright, simple, free from art, 
Make me as a weaned child ; 
From distrust and envy free, 
Pleased with all that pleaseth Thee. 

J. Newton 



H ! look not after great things : small breath- 



ings, small desires after the Lord, if true 
and pure, are sweet beginnings of life. Take 
heed of despising "the day of small things," by 
looking after some great visitation, proportion- 
able to thy distress, according to thy eye. Nay, 
thou must become a child \ thou must lose thy 
own will quite by degrees. Thou must wait for 
life to be measured out by the Father, and be 
rontent with what proportion, and at what time, 
He shall please to measure. 



" When Israel was a child, then I loved him " 
(Hosea xi. 1). Aim to be ever this little child, 
contented with what the Father gives of pleas- 
ure or of play ; and when restrained from pleas- 
ure or from play, and led for a season into the 
chamber of sorrow, rest quiet on His bosom, 
and be patient, and smile, as one who is nestled 
in a sweet and secure asylum. 




I. Pentngton. 



Anon, 



April 26. 



117 



If we hope for that we see not, then do we with 
patience wait for it. — Rom. viii. 25. 

One day is with the Lord as a thonsa7id years^ 
and a thousand years as one day \ — 2 Peter iii. 8. 

Lord! who Thy thousand years dost wait 

To work the thousandth part 
Of Thy vast plan, for us create 

With zeal a patient heart. 

J. H. Newman. 

T BELIEVE that if we could only see beforehand 
what it is that our heavenly Father means 
us to be, — the soul beauty and perfection and 
glory, the glorious and lovely spiritual body that 
this soul is to dwell in through all eternity, — if 
we could have a glimpse of this, we should not 
grudge all the trouble and pains He is taking 
with us now, to bring us up to that ideal, which 
is His thought of us. We know that it is God's 
way to work slowly, so we must not be surprised 
if He takes a great many years of discipline to 
turn a mortal being into an immortal, glorious 
angel. 

Annie Keary 



I IS 



April 27. 



Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor. — 
Zech. viii. 16. 

For our rejoicing is thisj the testimony of our con- 
science, that in simplicity and godly sincerity . „ , 
w e have had our conversation in the world. — 
2 Cor. i. 12. 

Appear I always what I am ? 

And am I what I am pretending ? 

Know I what way my course is bending ? 
And sound my word and thought the same ? 

Angn- 

A MI acting in simplicity, from a germ of the 



Divine life within, or am I shaping my 
path to obtain some immediate result of expe- 
diency? Am I endeavoring to compass effects, 
amidst a tangled web of foreign influences I cam 
not calculate ; or am I seeking simply to do what 
is right, and leaving the consequences to the 
good providence of God? 



Let it not be in any man's power to say truly 
of thee that thou art not simple, or that thou art 
not good ; but let him be a liar whoever shall 
think anything of this kind about thee ; and this 
is altogether in thy power. For who is he that 
shall hinder thee from being good and simple ? 




M. A. SCHIMMELPENNINCK. 



Marcus Antoninus 



April 28. 



1 19 



The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade 
upon thy right hand. — Ps. cxxi. 5. 

Great peace have they which love Thy law; and 
nothing shall offend them. — Ps. cxix. 165 

I rest beneath the Almighty's shade, 
My griefs expire, my troubles cease ; 

Thou, Lord, on whom my soul is stayed, 
Wilt keep me still in perfect peace. 

C. Wesley. 

f V\E great sign of the practical recognition 
of the " divine moment/' and of our find- 
ing God's habitation in it, is constant calmness 
and peace of mind. Events and things come 
with the moment ; but God comes with them 
too. So that if He comes in the sunshine, we 
find rest and joy ; and if He comes in the storm, 
we know He is King of the storms, and our 
hearts are not troubled. God Himself, though 
possessing a heart filled with the tenderest feel- 
ings, is, nevertheless, an everlasting tranquillity ; 
and when we enter into His holy tabernacle, 
our souls necessarily enter into the tabernacle of 

rest - T. C. Upham. 

My soul was not only brought into harmony 
with itself and with God, but with God's provi- 
dences. In the exercise of faith and love, I en- 
dured and performed whatever came in God's 
providence, in submission, in thankfulness, and 
silence, 

Madame Guyon 



120 



April 29. 



I -a.* ill arise and go to my Father. — Luke xv. iS 



0 my God, my Father ! hear, 
And help me to believe ; 

Weak and weary I draw near ; 
Thy child, O God, receive. 

1 so oft have gone astray ; 

To the perfect Guide I flee ; 
Thou wilt turn me not away, 
Thy love is pledged to me. 



CHILD, hast thou fallen? arise, and go. with 



childlike trust, to thy Father, like the prod- 
igal son. and humbly say, with heart and mouth. 
u Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before 
Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy 
son : make me as one of Thy hired servants.'' 
And what will thy heavenly Father do but what that 
father did in the parable ? Assuredly He will not 
change His essence, which is love, for the sake 
of thy misdoings. Is it not His own precious 
treasure, and a small thing with Him to forgive 
thee thy trespasses, if thou believe in Him ? for 
His hand is not shortened that it cannot make 
thee fit to be saved. 



Hymns of the Spirit. 




John Tauleb 



April 30. 



121 



Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go 
forward. — Ex. xiv. 1 5. 

No man, having put his hand to the plough, and 
looking back, is fit for the ki?igdom of God. — Luke 
ix. 62. 

Be trustful, be steadfast, whatever betide thee, 
Only one thing do thou ask of the Lord, — 

Grace to go forward wherever He guide thee, 
Simply believing the truth of His word. 

Anon- 



HE soul ceases to weary itself with planning 



and foreseeing, giving itself up to God's 
Holy Spirit within, and to the teachings of His 
providence without. . . . He is not forever fret- 
ting as to his progress, or looking back to see 
how far he is getting on ; rather he goes steadily 
and quietly on, and makes all the more progress 
because it is unconscious. So he never gets 
troubled and discouraged ; if he falls he humbles 
himself, but gets up at once, and goes on with 
renewed earnestness. 




Jean Nicolas Grou 



122 



May 1. 



/ will bless the Lord at all times : His praise 
shall co?itinually be in my mouth. — Ps. xxxiv. I. 

/ will praise Thee. O Lord, with 7ny 'whole heart ; 
I will show forth all Thy marvellous works. — - 
Ps. ix. I. 

Thrice blest will all cur blessings be, 
When we can look through them to Thee ; 
When each glad heart its tribute pays 
Of love and gratitude and praise. 



HAT which befits us, embosomed in beauty 



and wonder as we are, is cheerfulness, and 
courage, and the endeavor to realize our aspira- 
tions. Shall not the heart which has received so 
much, trust the Power by which it lives ? May it 
not quit other leadings, and listen to the Soul that 
has guided it so gently, and taught it so much, 
secure that the future will be worthy of the past ? 



J have experienced that the habit of taking out 
of the hand of our Lord every little blessing and 
brightness on our path, confirms us. m an especial 
manner, in communion with His love. 



M. J. COTTERILL. 




R. W. Emerson. 



M. A. SCHIMMELPEXNINCK 



May 2. 



123 



The ornanient of a meek and quiet spirit, which 
is in the sight of God of great price. — 1 Peter 
iii. 4. 

To present you- holy, and luiblameable, and un- 
reproveable in His sight. — Col. i. 22. 

Thy sinless mind in us reveal. 

Thy spirit's plenitude impart ! 
Till all my spotless life shall tell 

The abundance of a loving heart. 

C. Wesley. 

TJOLINESS appeared to me to be of a sweet. 

pleasant, charming, serene, calm nature. 
It seemed to me. it brought an inexpressible pu- 
rity, brightness, peacefulness, and ravishment to 
the soul : and that it made the soul like a field 
or garden of God, with all manner of pleasant 
flowers, that is all pleasant, delightful, and un- 
disturbed ; enjoying a sweet calm, and the 
gently vivifying beams of the sun. The soul of 
a true Christian appeared like such a little 
white flower, as we see in the spring of the year, 
low and humble on the ground, opening its 
bosom to receive the pleasant beams of the sun's 
glory ; rejoicing, as it were, in a calm rapture : 
diffusing around a sweet fragrancy ; standing 
peacefully and lovingly in the midst of other 
flowers round about, all in like manner opening 
their bosoms to drink in the light of the sun. 

Jonathan Edwards 



124 



The Lord is good, a strong-hold In the day of 
trouble j and He knoweth them that trust in 
Him. — Nahum i. 7. 

Leave God to order all thy ways, 
And hope in Him, whate'er betide. 

Thou 'It find Him in the evil days 
Thy all-sufficient strength and guide ; 

Who trusts in God's unchanging love, 

Builds on the rock that nought can move. 

G. Neumarck. 

/^\UR whole trouble in our lot in this world 
rises from the disagreement of our mind 
therewith. Let the mind be brought to the lot, 
and the whole tumult is instantly hushed ; let it 
be kept in that disposition, and the man shall 
stand at ease, in his affliction, like a rock un- 
moved with waters beating upon it. 

T. Boston, 

How does our will become sanctified? By 
conforming itself unreservedly to that of God. 
We will all that He wills, and will nothing that 
He does not will ; we attach our feeble will to 
that all-powerful will which performs everything. 
Thus, nothing can ever come to pass against our 
will ; for nothing can happen save that which 
God wills, and we find in His good pleasure an 
inexhaustible source of peace and consolation. 

Fexelon 



May 4. 



125 



Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought 
righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the 
mouths of lions, out of weakness were made 
strong. — Meb. xi. 33, 34. 

She met the hosts of Sorrow with a look 

That altered not beneath the frown they wore, 
And soon the lowering brood were tamed, and took, 

Meekly, her gentle rule, and frowned no more. 
Her soft hand put aside the assaults of wrath, 
And calmly broke in twain 
The fiery shafts of pain, 
And rent the nets of passion from her path. 

By that, victorious hand despair was slain ; 
With love she vanquished hate, and overcame 

Evil with good, in her great Master's name. 



S to what may befall us outwardly, in this 



confused state of things, shall we not trust 
our tender Father, and rest satisfied in His will? 
Shall anything hurt us ? Can tribulation, distress, 
persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword, 
come between the love of the Father to the 
child, or the child's rest, content, and delight in 
His love ? And doth not the love, the rest, the 
peace, the joy felt, swallow up all the bitterness 
and sorrow of the outward condition ? 



W. C. Bryant. 




I. Penington 



126 



May 5. 



If thou hast run with the footmen, and they 
have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend 
with horses'? and if in the la?id of peace wherein 
thou trustedst, they wearied thee, the7i how wilt 
thou do in the swelling of Jordan f — Jer. xii. 5. 

How couldst thou hang upon the cross, 
To whom a weary hour is loss ? 
Or how the thorns and scourging brook, 
Who shrinkest from a scornful look ? 



HEART unloving among kindred has no 



love towards God's saints and angels. If 
we have a cold heart towards a servant or a 
friend, why should we wonder if we have no fer- 
vor towards God? If we are cold in our private 
prayers, we should be earthly and dull in the 
most devout religious order ; if we cannot bear 
the vexations of a companion, how should we 
bear the contradiction of sinners ? if a little pain 
overcomes us, how could we endure a cross? if 
we have no tender, cheerful, affectionate love to 
those with whom our daily hours are spent, how 
should we feel the pulse and ardor of love to 
the unknown and the evil, the ungrateful and 
repulsive ? 



J. Keble. 




H. E. Manning 



May 6. 



127 



Be kindly affectioned one to another with broth- 
erly love. — Rom. xii. 10. 

In her tongue is the law of kindness. — ■ Prov 
xxxi. 26. 

Since trifles make the sum of human things, 
And half our misery from our foibles springs ; 
Since life's best joys consist in peace and ease, 
And though but few can serve, yet all can please ; 
Oh, let the ungentle spirit learn from hence, 
A small unkindness is a great offence. 



LL usefulness and all comfort may be pre- 



vented by an unkind, a sour, crabbed 
temper of mind,— -a mind that can bear with no 
difference of opinion or temperament. A spirit 
of fault-finding ; an unsatisfied temper ; a con- 
stant irritability ; little inequalities in the look, 
the temper, or the manner ; a brow cloudy and 
dissatisfied — your husband or your wife cannot 
tell why — will more than neutralize all the good 
you can do, and render life anything but a 
blessing. 



Hannah More. 




Albert Barnes 



You have not fulfilled every duty, unless you 
have fulfilled that of being pleasant. 

Charles Buxton 



128 



May 7. 



He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up 
their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars j 
He calleth them all by their names. — Ps. cxlvii. 
3. 4- 

Teach me your mood, O patient stars ! 

Who climb each night the ancient sky, 
Leaving on space no shade, no scars, 

No trace of age, no fear to die. 

R. W. Emerson. 

T LOOKED up to the heavens once more, and 
the quietness of the stars seemed to reproach 
me. " We are safe up here," they seemed to say ; 
"we shine, fearless and confident, for the God 
who gave the primrose its rough leaves to hide 
it from the blast of uneven spring, hangs us in 
the awful hollows of space. We cannot fall out 
of His safety. Lift up your eyes on high, and 
behold ! Who hath created these things — that 
bringeth out their host by number? He calleth 
them all by names. By the greatness of His 
might, for that He is strong in power, not one 
faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob ! and speak- 
est, O Israel ! my way is hid from the Lord, and 
my judgment is passed over from my God? " 

G. MacDonalb 



May 8. 



129 



This is the day which the Lord hath made j we 
will rejoice and be glad in it. — Ps. cxviii. 24. 

Why stand ye here all the day idle f — Matt. 
xx. 6. 

So her© hath been dawning another blue day ; 
Think, wilt thou let it slip useless away? 
Out of eternity this new day is born ; 
Into eternity at night will return. 

T. Carlylil 

O MALL cares, some deficiencies in the mere 
^ arrangement and ordering of our lives, 
daily fret our hearts, and cross the clearness of 
our faculties ; and these entanglements hang 
around us, and leave us no free soul able to give 
itself up, in power and gladness, to the true work 
of life. The severest training and self-denial, — a 
superiority to the servitude of indulgence, — are 
the indispensable conditions even of genial 
spirits, of unclouded energies, of tempers free 
from morbidness, — much more of the practised 
and vigorous mind, ready at every call, and 
thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 

J. H. Thom. 

True, we can never be at peace till we have 
performed the highest duty of all, — till we have 
arisen, and gone to our Father ; but the perform- 
ance of smaller duties, yes, even of the small- 
est, will do more to give us temporary repose, 
will act more as healthful anodynes, than the 
greatest joys that can come to us from any other 
quarter. 

G. MacDonald 

9 



13° 



May 9. 



The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away j 
blessed be the name of the Lord. — Job i. 21. 

What Thou hast given, Thou canst take, 
And when Thou wilt new gifts can make. 

All flows from Thee alone ; 
When Thou didst give it, it was Thine ; 
When Thou retook'st it, 't was not mine. 

Thy will in all be done. 



E are ready to praise when all shines fair ; 



but when life is overcast, when all things 
seem to be against us, when we are in fear for 
some cherished happiness, or in the depths of 
sorrow, or in the solitude of a life which has no 
visible support, or in a season of sickness, and 
with the shadow of death approaching, — then 
to praise God ; then to say, This fear, loneliness, 
affliction, pain, and trembling awe are as sure 
tokens of love, as life, health, joy, and the gifts 
of home : " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath 
taken away ; " on either side it is He, and all is 
love alike ; " blessed be the name of the Lord, " — 
this is the true sacrifice of praise. What can 
come amiss to a soul which is so in accord with 
God? What can make so much as one jarring 
tone in all its harmony? In all the changes of 
this fitful life, it ever dwells in praise. 



John Austin. 




H. E. Manning. 



May 10. 



131 



The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants j 
and none of the?n that trtcst in Hi?n shall be 
desolate.- — Ps. xxxiv. 22. 

Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. — 
Job xiii. 1 5. 

I praise Thee while my days go on ; 

I love Thee while my days go on : 

Through dark and dearth, through fire and frost, 

With emptied arms and treasure lost, 

I thank Thee while my days go on. 



HE sickness of the last week was fine medi- 



cine ; pain disintegrated the spirit, or be- 
came spiritual. I rose, — I felt that I had given 
to God more perhaps than an angel could, — had 
promised Him in youth that to be a blot on this 
fair world, at His command, would be acceptable. 
Constantly offer myself to continue the obscurest 
and loneliest thing ever heard of, with one pro- 
viso, — His agency. Yes, love Thee, and all Thou 
dost, while Thou sheddest frost and darkness on 
every path of mine. 



E. B. Browning 




Mary Moody Emerson 



132 



May 11. 



Shall we receive good at the ha?id of God, and 
shall we not receive evil? — Job ii. 10. 

Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord, 
according to Thy word. — Ps. cxix. 65. 

Whatsoe'er our lot may be, 

Calmly in this thought we '11 rest, — 

Could we see as Thou dost see, 
We should choose it as the best. 

Wm. Gaskell 

TT is a proverbial saying, that every one makes 
his own destiny \ and this is usually inter- 
preted, that every one, by his wise or unwise con- 
duct, prepares good or evil for himself : but we 
may also understand it, that whatever it be that 
he receives from the hand of Providence, he may 
so accommodate himself to it, that he will find 
his lot good for him, however much may seem 
to others to be wanting. 

Wm. von Humboldt. 

Evil, once manfully fronted, ceases to be 
evil ; there is generous battle-hope in place 
of dead, passive misery ; the evil itself has be- 
come a kind of good. 

T- Carlyle 



May 12. 



133 



Fear none of those things which thou shall 
suffer : . . . ye shall have tribulation ten days : be 
thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee 1 
crown of life. — Rev. ii. 10. 

Then, O my soul, be ne'er afraid, 
On Him who thee and all things made 

Do thou all calmly rest ; 
Whatever may come, where'er we go, 
Our Father in the heavens must know 



UIDE me, O Lord, in all the changes and 



varieties of the world ; that in all things 
that shall happen, I may have an evenness and 
tranquillity of spirit ; that my soul may be wholly 
resigned to Thy divinest will and pleasure, never 
murmuring at Thy gentle chastisements and 
fatherly correction. Amen. 



Thou art never at any time nearer to God 
than when under tribulation; which. He permits 
for the purification and beautifying of thy soul. 

M. Molinos. 

Prize inward exercises, griefs, and troubles ; t 
and let faith and patience have their perfect 
work in them. 



In all things what is best. 



Paul Flemming. 




Jeremy Taylor. 



I. Penington 



134 



May 13. 



/ pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of 
the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from 
e: ;7. — John xvii. 1 5. 

In busy mart and crowded street, 
No less than in the still retreat, 
Thou, Lord, art near, our souls to bless, 
Wi:h 2.'.'. a Father's tenderness. 

I. Williams. 

/^XLY the individual conscience, and He 
who is ^ea:er than the conscience, can 
tell where worldliness prevails. Each heart 
must answer for itself, and at its own risk. That 
our souls are committed to our own keeping, at 
our own peril, in a world so mixed as this, is the 
last reason we should slumber over the charge, 
or betray the trust. If only that outlet to the 
Infinite is kept open, the inner bond with eter- 
nal life preserved, while not one movement of 
this world's business is interfered with, nor one 
pulse-beat of its happiness repressed, with all 
natural associations dear and cherished, with all 
human sympathies fresh and warm, we shall yet 
be near to the kingdom of heaven, within the or- 
der of the Kosmos of God — in the world, but 
not of the world — not taken out of it, but kept 
from its evil. 

]. H. Thom 



May 14. 



135 



And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to 
do justly, and to love mercy \ and to walk humbly 
with thy God? — Micah vi. 8. 

Put o?i therefore . . . kindness, humbleness of 
mind, meekness, long-suffering, — Col. iii. 12. 



HERE is no true and constant gentleness 



without humility ; while we are so fond of 
ourselves, we are easily offended with others. 
Let us be persuaded that nothing is due to us, 
and then nothing will disturb us. Let us often 
think of our own infirmities, and we shall become 
indulgent towards those of others. 



Endeavor to be patient in bearing with the 
defects and infirmities of others, of what sort so- 
ever they be ; for that thyself also hast many 
failings which must be borne with by others. 
If thou canst not make thyself such an one as 
thou wouldest, how canst thou expect to have 
another in all things to thy liking ? 



Plant in us an humble mind, 
Patient, pitiful, and kind ; 
■Meek and lowly let us be, 
Full of goodness, full of Thee. 



C. Wesley. 




Fexelon. 



Thomas a Kempis 



136 



May 15. 



My presence shall go with thee, and I will give 
thee rest. — Ex. xxxiii. 14. 

Thou wilt show me the path of life : in Thy 
presence is fulness of joy ; at Thy right hand there 
are pleasures for evermore. — Ps. xvi. 1 1. 

Thy presence fills my mind with peace, 
Brightens the thoughts so dark erewhile, 

Bids cares and sad forebodings cease, 
Makes all things smile. 

Charlotte Elliott. 

"LTOW shall we rest in God? By giving our- 
selves wholly to Him. If you give your- 
self by halves, you cannot find full rest ; there 
will ever be a lurking disquiet in that half which 
is withheld. [Martyrs, confessors, and saints have 
tasted this rest, and " counted themselves happy 
in that they endured.'' A countless host of 
God's faithful servants have drunk deeply of it 
under the daily burden of a weary life, — dull, 
commonplace, painful, or desolate. All that 
God has been to them He is ready to be to you. 
The heart once fairly given to God, with a clear 
conscience, a fitting rule of life, and a steadfast 
purpose of obedience, you will find a wonderful 
sense of rest coming over you. 

Jean Nicolas Grou 



May 16. 



137 



Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and 
in the power of His might. — Eph. vi. 10. 
No man can serve two masters. — Matt. vi. 24. 

Oh, there are heavenly heights to reach 

In many a fearful place, 
Where the poor timid heir of God 

Lies blindly on his face ; 
Lies languishing for grace divine 

That he shall never see 
Till he go forward at Thy sign, 

And trust himself to Thee. 

A. L. Waring. 

T> ESERVATIONS lie latent in the mind con- 
cerning some unhallowed sentiments or 
habits in the present, some possibly impending 
temptations in the future ; and thus do we cheat 
ourselves of inward and outward joys together. 
We give up many an indulgence for conscience' 
sake, but stop short at that point of entire 
faithfulness wherein conscience could reward us. 
If we would but give ourselves wholly to God, 
— give up, for the present and the future, every 
act, and, above all, every thought and every 
feeling, to be all purified to the uttermost, and 
rendered the best, noblest, holiest we can con- 
ceive, — then would sacrifice bear with it a 
peace rendering itself, I truly believe, far easier 
than before. 

F. P. COEBE. 



138 



May 17. 



Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify 
one another, even as also ye do. — i Thess. v. ii. 

Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. — Matt, 
xix. 19. 



Take patience, labor, to their heart and hand, 
From thy hand, and thy heart, and thy brave cheer, 
And God's grace fructify through thee to all. 
The least flower with a brimming cup may stand, 
And share its dewdrop with another near. 



HAT is meant by our neighbor we cannot 



doubt : it is every one with whom we are 
brought into contact. First of all, he is literally 
our neighbor who is next to us in our own family 
and household ; husband to wife, wife to hus- 
band, parent to child, brother to sister, master 
to servant, servant to master. Then it is he 
who is close to us in our own neighborhood, in 
our own town, in our own parish, in our own 
street. With these all true charity begins. To 
love and be kind to these is the very beginning 
of all true religion. But, besides these, as our 
Lord teaches, it is every one who is thrown 
across our path by the changes and chances of 
life ; he or she, whosoever it be, whom we have 
any means of helping. — the unfortunate stranger 
whom we may meet in travelling, the deserted 
friend whom no one else cares to look after. 



So others shall 



E. B. Browning. 




A. P. Stanley 



May 18. 



139 



We know that we have passed from death unto 
tife, because we love the brethren. — 1 John iii. 14. 

He that loveih 7iot knoweth not God j for God 
is love. — 1 John iv. 8. 

Mutual love the token be, 
Lord, that we belong to Thee ; 
Love, Thine image, love impart ; 
Stamp it on our face and heart ; 
Only love to us be given ; 
Lord, we ask no other heaven. 

C. Wesley. 

/^\H, how many times we can most of us re- 
member when we would gladly have made 
any compromise with our consciences, would 
gladly have made the most costly sacrifices to 
God, if He would only have excused us from 
this duty of loving, of which our nature seemed 
utterly incapable. It is far easier to feel kindly, 
to act kindly, toward those with whom we are 
seldom brought into contact, whose tempers 
and prejudices do not rub against ours, whose 
interests do not clash with ours, than to keep up 
an habitual, steady, self-sacrificing love towards 
those whose weaknesses and faults are always 
forcing themselves upon us, and are stirring up 
our own. A man may pass good muster as a 
philanthropist who makes but a poor master to 
his servants, or father to his children. 

F. D. Maurice 



140 



May 19. 



Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him, — 
Ps. xxxvii. 7. 

Trust in Hi?n at all times. — Ps. lxii. 8. 

Dost thou ask when comes His hour ? 

Then, when it shall aid thee best. 
Trust His faithfulness and power, 

Trust in Him, and quiet rest. 

Anon. 

J" HAD found [communion with God] to con- 
sist, not only in the silencing of the outward 
man, but in the silencing also of every thought, 
and in the concentration of the soul and all its 
powers into a simple, quiet watching and waiting 
for the food which its heavenly Father might 
see fit either to give or to withhold. In no case 
could it be sent empty away ; for, if comfort, 
light, or joy w 7 ere withheld, the act of humble 
waiting at the gate of heavenly wisdom could 
not but work patience in it, and thus render it, 
by humility and obedience, more " meet to be a 
partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light," 
and also more blessed in itself. 

M. A. Keltv. 

" Rest in the Lord ; wait patiently for 
Him." In Hebrew, " be silent to God, and let 
Him mould thee." Keep still, and He will 
mould thee to the right shape. 

Martin Luther 



May 20. 



141 



To be spiritually minded is life and peace. — 
Rom, viii. 6. 

Stilled now be every anxious care ; 
See God's great goodness everywhere ; 
Leave all to Him in perfect rest : 
He will do all things for the best. 



E should all endeavor and labor for a 



calmer spirit, that we may the better 
serve God in praying to Him and praising Him ; 
and serve one another in love, that we may be 
fitted to do and receive good ; that we may 
make our passage to heaven more easy and 
cheerful, without drooping and hanging the wing. 
So much as we are quiet and cheerful upon good 
ground, so much we live, and are, as it were, in 
heaven. 



Possess yourself as much as you possibly can 
in peace ; not by any effort, but by letting all 
things fall to the ground which trouble or excite 
you. This is no work, but is, as it were, a set- 
ting down a fluid to settle that has become tur- 
bid through agitation. 



From the German. 




R. SlBBES 



Madame Guyon. 



142 



May 21. 



The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in sa fety by 
Him ; and the Lord shall cover him all the day 
long. — Deut. xxxiii. 12. 



Whate'er events betide, 

Thy will they all perform ; 
Safe in Thy breast my head I hide. 

Nor fear the coming storm. 

H. F. Lyte. 

J" HAVE seemed to see a need of everything God 
gives me, and want nothing that He denies 
me. There is no dispensation, though afflictive, 
but either in it, or after it, I find that I could 
not be without it. Whether it be taken from or 
not given me, sooner or later God quiets me in 
Himself without it. I cast all my concerns on 
the Lord, and live securely on the care and wis- 
dom of my heavenly Father. My ways, you 
know, are, in a sense, hedged up with thorns, 
and grow darker and darker daily ; but yet I 
distrust not my good God in the least, and live 
more quietly in the absence of all by faith, than 
I should do, I am persuaded, if I possessed 
'hem. 

Anon, 1810 



May 22. 



143 



He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most 
High shall abide tinder the shadow of the 
Almighty. — Ps, xci. 1. 

They who on the Lord rely, 
Safely dwell though danger 's nigh ; 
Lo ! His sheltering wings are spread 
O'er each faithful servant's head. 
When they wake, or when they sleep, 
Angel guards their vigils keep ; 
Death and danger may be near, 
Faith and love have nought to fear. 

Harriet Auber. 

"T^HERE shall no evil befall thee, neither 
shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling," 
is a promise to the fullest extent verified in the 
case of all "who dwell in the secret place of the 
Most High." To them sorrows are not "evils."' 
sicknesses are not " plagues ; " the shadow of 
the Almighty extending far around those who 
abide under it. alters the character of all things 
which come within its influence. 

Anon. 

It is faith's work to claim and challenge lov- 
ing-kindness out of all the roughest strokes of 
God. 

S. Rutherford. 



144 



May 23. 



Be content with such things as ye have. — Heb. 
Kiii. 5. 

I have learned, in whatsoever state I a?n, there- 
with to be content. — Phil. iv. 1 1. 

No longer forward nor behind 

I look in hope or fear ; 
But, grateful, take the good I find, 

The best of now and here. 

J. G. Whittier. 

JF we wished to gain contentment, we might 
try such rules as these : — 

1. Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not 
even of the weather. 

2. Never picture thyself to thyself under any 
circumstances in which thou art not. 

3. Never compare thine own lot with that of 
another. 

4. Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish 
that this or that had been, or were, otherwise 
than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee bet- 
ter and more wisely than thou dost thyself. 

5. Never dwell on the morrow. Remember 
that it is God's, not thine. The heaviest part of 
sorrow often is to look forward to it. " The Lord 
will provide." 

E. B. Pusey. 



May 24. 



145 



Now no chastening for the prese?it seemeth to be 
joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it 
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto 
them which are exercised thereby. — Heb. xii. 11. 



I cannot say, 
Beneath the pressure of life's cares today. 



'HE particular annoyance which befell you 



this morning ; the vexatious words which 
met your ear and " grieved " your spirit ; the 
disappointment which was His appointment for 
to-day ; the slight but hindering ailment ; the 
presence of some one who is "a grief of mind " 
to you, — whatever this day seemeth not joyous, 
but grievous, is linked in " the good pleasure of 
His goodness'*' with a corresponding afterward 
of "peaceable fruit," the very seed from which a 
if you only do not choke it, this shall spring and 
ripen. 



I joy in these ; 
But I can say 



That I had rather walk this rugged way, 
If Him it please. 



S. G. Browning. 




F. R. Haver gal 



May 25. 



O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass 
from vie; nevertheless not as I mill, but as Thau 
zi — Matt. xxvi. 59. 

0 Lord my God, do Thou Thy holy will, — 

I will lie still. 

1 will not stir, lest I forsake Thine arm, 

And break the charm 
Which lulls me, clinging to my Father's breast, 
In perfect rest. 

T. Khr LE. 

J^ESIGXATION to the will of God is the 

good ; and is a source of the most settled quiet 
and composure of mind. Our resignation to the 
will of God may be said to be perfect, when our 
will is lost and resolved up into His ; when we 
rest in His will as our end, as being itself most 
just, and right, and good. And where is the im- 
possibility of such an affection to what is just 
and right and good, such a loyalty of heart to 
the Governor of the universe, as shall prevail 
over all sinister indirect desires of our own? 

Joseph Butler. 

There are no disappointments to those whose 
wills are buried in the will of God. 

F. \Y. Faier. 

Lord. Thy will be done in father, mother, 
child, in everything and everywhere : without a 
reserve, without a evt. an if, or a limit. 



May 26, 



147 



The Lord heareth your murmu rings, which ye 
murmur against Him. - — Ex. xvi. 8. 

Without murmur, uncomplaining, 

I11 His hand, 
Leave whatever things thou canst not 

Understand. 

K. R. Hagenbach 

(~\XE great characteristic of holiness is never 
to be exacting — never to complain. 
Each complaint drags us down a degree, in our 
upward course. If you would discern in whom 
God's spirit dwells, watch that person, and notice 
whether you ever hear him murmur. 

Gold Dust. 

When we wish things to be otherwise than 
they are. we lose sight of the great practical parts 
of the life of godliness. We wish, and wish — - 
when, if we have done all that lies on us. we 
should fall quietly into the hands of God. Such 
wishing cuts the very sinews of our privileges and 
consolations. You are leaving me for a time ; 
and you say that you wish you could leave me 
better, or leave me with some assistance : but. if 
it is right for you to go. it is right for me to meet 
what lies on me. without a wish that I had less to 
meet, or were better able to meet it. 

R Cecii 



148 



May 27. 



He that is faithful in that which is least i& 
faithful also in much. — Luke xvi. 10. 

The Lord preserve th the faithful. — Ps. xxxi. 23. 

The trivial round, the common task, 
Would furnish all we ought to ask ; 
Room to deny ourselves ; a road 
To bring us, daily, nearer God. 

J. Kebll 




XACTNESS in little duties is a wonderful 
source of cheerfulness. 



F. W. Faber. 

The unremitting retention of simple and high 
sentiments in obscure duties is hardening the 
character to that temper which will work with 
honor, if need be, in the tumult or on the 
scaffold. 

R. W. Emerson. 

We are too fond of our own will. We want to 
be doing what we fancy mighty things ; but the 
great point is, to do small things, when called to 
them, in a right spirit. 

R. Cecil 

It is not on great occasions only that we are 
required to be faithful to the will of God ; occa- 
sions constantly occur, and we should be sur- 
prised to perceive how much our spiritual 
advancement depends on small obediences. 

Madame Swetchine. 



May 28. 



149 



Strengthened with all mighty according to His 
glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering 
with joy fulness, — Col. i. 11. 



Either man's works or His own gifts ; who best 
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best ; His state 
Is kingly ; thousands at His bidding speed, 
And post o'er land and ocean without rest; 
They also serve who only stand and wait. 



E cannot always be doing a great work, 



but we can always be doing something 
that belongs to our condition. To be silent, to 
suffer, to pray when we cannot act, is acceptable 
to God. A disappointment, a contradiction, a 
harsh word, an annoyance, a wrong received and 
endured as in His presence, is worth more than 
a long prayer ; and we do not lose time if we 
bear its loss with gentleness and patience, pro- 
vided the loss was inevitable, and was not caused 
by our own fault. 



God doth not need 



J. Milton. 




F^nelon 



May 29. 



Be not slothful, but followers of them who 
through faith and patience inherit the pro7nises. 
— Heb. vi. 12 

Where now with pain thou treadest, trod 
The whitest of the saints of God ! 
To show thee where their feet were set, 
The light which led them shineth yet. 

J. G. Whittier. 

T ET us learn from this communion of saints 
to live in hope. Those who are now at 
rest were once like ourselves. They were once 
weak, faulty, sinful ; they had their burdens and 
hindrances, their slumbering and weariness, their 
failures and their falls. But now they have over- 
come. Their life was once homely and common- 
place. Their day ran out as ours. Morning and 
noon and night came and went to them as to us. 
Their life, too, was as lonely and sad as yours. 
Little fretful circumstances and frequent disturb- 
ing changes wasted away their hours as yours. 
There is nothing in your life that was not in 
theirs ; there was nothing in theirs but may be 
also in your own. They have overcome, each 
one, and one by one ; each in his turn, when 
the day came, and God called him to the trial. 
And so shall you likewise. 

H. E. Manning. 



May 30. 



151 



And thus this ntan died, leaving his death for 
an example of a noble courage, and a ?nejnorial of 
virttie, not only tinto young men, but unto all his 
nation. — 2 Mac. vi. 31. 

Zebulon and Naphtali were a people that jeop- 
arded their lives unto the death in the high places 
of the field. — Judges v. 18. 

Though Love repine, and Reason chafe, 
There came a voice without reply, — 

'T is man's perdition to be safe, 

When for the truth he ought to die. 

R. W. Emerson. 

COME say that the age of chivalry is past. 

The age of chivalry is never past, so long 
as there is a wrong left unredressed on earth, or 
a man or woman left to say, £ ' I will redress that 
wrong, or spend my life in the attempt." The 
age of chivalry is never past, so long as w r e have 
faith enough to say. " God will help me to re- 
dress that wrong ; or, if not me, He will help 
those that come after me, for His eternal Will is 
to overcome evil with good." 

C. Kings ley. 

Thus man is made equal to every event. He 
can face danger for the right. A poor, tender, 
painful body, he can run into name or bullets 01 
pestilence, with duty for his guide. 

R. W. Emerson 



152 



May 31. 



Let all those that put their trust in Thee re- 
foice : . . . let them also that love Thy name be joy- 
ful in Thee. — Ps. v. 1 1 . 

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. — 
Ps. xxiii. 2. 

1 can hear these violets chorus 
To the sky's benediction above ; 

And we all are together lying 
On the bosom of Infinite Love. 

Oh, the peace at the heart of Nature ! 

Oh, the light that is not of day ! 
Why seek it afar forever, 

When it cannot be lifted away ? 

W. C. Gannett 

\T THAT inexpressible joy for me, to look up 



* * through the apple-blossoms and the flut- 
tering leaves, and to see God's love there ; to 
listen to the thrush that has built his nest among 
them, and to feel God's love, who cares for the 
birds, in every note that swells his little throat ; 
to look beyond to the bright blue depths of the 
sky, and feel they are a canopy of blessing, — ■ 
the roof of the house of my Father ; that if 
clouds pass over it, it is the unchangeable light 
they veil ; that, even when the day itself passes, 
I shall see that the night itself only unveils new 
worlds of light ; and to know that if I could un- 
wrap fold after fold of God's universe, I should 
only unfold more and more blessing, and see 
deeper and deeper into the love which is at the 
heart of all. 




Elizabeth Charles 



June 1. 



153 



One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will i 
seek after j that I 7 nay dwell in the house of the 
Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty 
pf the Lord, and to enquire in His temple. — Ps< 
xxvii. 4. 

Thy beauty, O my Father ! All is Thine; 

But there is beauty in Thyself, from whence 
The beauty Thou hast made doth ever flow 

In streams of never-failing affluence. 

Thou art the Temple ! and though I am lame, — 
Lame from my birth, and shall be till I die, — 

I enter through the Gate called Beautiful, 

And am alone with Thee, O Thou Most High ! 

J. W. Chad wick. 



OXSIDER that all which appears beautiful 



outwardly, is solely derived from the invisi- 
ble Spirit which is the source of that external 
beauty, and say joyfully, " Behold, these are 
streamlets from the uncreated Fountain ; behold, 
these are drops from the infinite Ocean of all 
good ! Oh ! how does my inmost heart rejoice 
at the thought of that eternal, infinite Beauty, 
which is the source and origin of all created 
beauty ! " 




L. Scupoli 



154 



June 2. 



We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass 
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the sa?ne 
image, fro?n glory to glory, even as by the Spirit oj 
the Lord. — 2 Cor. iii. 18. 

Then every tempting form of sin, 
Shamed in Thy presence, disappears, 

And all the glowing, raptured soul 
The likeness it contemplates wears. 

P. Doddridge. 

T^HEN does a good man become the taber- 



nacle of God, wherein the divine Shechinah 
does rest, and which the divine glory fills, when 
the frame of his mind and life is wholly accord- 
ing to that idea and pattern which he receives 
from the mount. We best glorify Him wmen 
we grow most like to Him : and we then act 
most for His glory, when a true spirit of sanctity, 
justice, meekness, etc., runs through all our ac- 
tions ; when we so live in the world as becomes 
those that converse with the great Mind and 
Wisdom of the whole world, with that Almighty 
Spirit that made, supports, and governs all things, 
with that Being from wdience all good flows, and 
in which there is no spot, stain, or shadow of 
evil ; and so being captivated and overcome by 
the sense of the Divine loveliness and goodness, 
endeavor to be like Him, and conform ourselves, 
as much as may be, to Him. 




Dr. John Smith. 



June 3, 



The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and 
shall trust in Him. — Ps. lxiv. 10. 

Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he, — 
Prov. xvi. 20. 

The heart that trusts forever sings, 
And feels as light as it had wings, 
A well of peace within it springs, — 

Come good or ill, 
Whate'er to-day, to-morrow brings, 

It is His will. 

I. "Williams 

TJE will weave no longer a spotted life of 
shreds and patches, but he will live with 
a divine unity. He will cease from what is base 
and frivolous in his life, and be content with all 
places, and with any service he can render. He 
will calmly front the morrow, in the negligency 
of that trust which carries God with it, and so 
hath already the whole future in the bottom of 
the heart 

R. W. Emerson. 

He who believes in God is not careful for the 
morrow, but labors joyfully and with a great 
heart. "For He giveth His beloved, as in sleep.' 5 
They must work and watch, yet never be careful 
or anxious, but commit all to Him, and live in 
serene tranquillity ; with a quiet heart, as one 
who sleeps safely and quietly. 

Martin Luther 



June 4. 



Therefore, my beloved brethren ^ be ye s fed fast, 
immoveable^ always abounding in the work of the 
Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not 
in rain in the Lord. — i Cor. xv. 58. 

Say not, 'T was all in vain, 

The anguish and the darkness and the strife ; 
Love thrown upon the waters comes again 

In quenchless yearnings for a nobler life. 



ID you ever hear of a man who had striven 



all his life faithfully and singly toward an 
object and in no measure obtained it? If a man 
constantly aspires, is he not elevated? Did ever 
a man try heroism, magnanimity, truth, sincerity, 
and find that there was no advantage in them, — 
that it was a vain endeavor ? 



Do right, and God's recompense to you will 
be the power of doing more right. Give, and 
God's reward to you will be the spirit of giving 
more : a blessed spirit, for it is the Spirit of God 
himself, whose Life is the blessedness of giving. 
Love, and God will pay you with the capacity 
of more love : for love is Heaven — love is God 
within you. 



Anna Shipton. 




H. D. Thoreau. 



F. W. Robertson. 



June 5. 



157 



Speak, Lord; for Thy servant hear eth. — 1 Sam. 
iii. 9. 

Though heralded with nought of fear, 

Or outward sign or show : 
Though only to the inward ear 

It whispers soft and low ; 
Though dropping, as the manna fell, 

Unseen, yet from above, 
Noiseless as dew-fall, heed it well, — 

Thy Father's call of love. 



HIS is one result of the attitude into which 



we are put by humility, by disinterested- 
ness, by purity, by calmness, that we have the 
opportunity, the disengagement, the silence in 
which we may watch what is the will of God con- 
cerning us. If we think no more of ourselves 
than w r e ought to think, if we seek not our own 
but others' welfare, if we are prepared to take all 
things as God's dealings with us, then we may 
have a chance of catching from time to time 
what God has to tell us. In the Mussulman de- 
votions one constant gesture is to put the hands 
to the ears, as if to listen for the messages from 
the other w T orld. This is the attitude, the posture 
which our minds assume, if we have a standing- 
place above and beyond the stir and confusion 
and dissipation of this mortal world. 



J. G. WhittieRc 




A. P. Stanley 



i5» 



June 6. 



Him that overcometh will I make a pill a?' in the 
temple of my God. — Rev. iii. 12. 

In whom ye also are builded together for an habi- 
tation of God through the Spirit. — Eph. ii. 22. 



None the place ordained refuseth, 

They are one, and they are all, 
Living stones, the Builder chooseth 

For the courses of his wall. 

Jean Ingelow. 



LOWLY, through all the universe, that temple 



of God is being built. Wherever, in any 
world, a soul, by free-willed obedience, catches 
the fire of God's likeness, it is set into the grow- 
ing walls, a living stone. When, in your hard 
fight, in your tiresome drudgery, or in your terri- 
ble temptation, you catch the purpose of your 
being, and give yourself to God, and so give 
Him the chance to give Himself to you. your life, 
a living stone, is taken up and set into that grow- 
ing wall. . . . Wherever souls are being tried and 
ripened, in whatever commonplace and homely 
ways : — there God is hewing out the pillars for 
His temple. Oh, if the stone can only have some 
vision of the temple of which it is to lie a part 
forever, what patience must fill it as it feels the 
blows of the hammer, and knows that success for 
it is simply to let itself be wrought into what 
shape the Master wills. 




Phillips Brooks 



June 7. 



159 



Ye are all the children of light, and the children 
of the day. — 1 Thess. v. 5. 

Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for 
the upright in heart. — Ps. xcvii. 1 1. 

Serene will be our days and bright, 

And happy will our nature be, 
When love is an unerring light, 

And joy its own security. 

W. Wordsworth. 

IVTOTHIXG can produce so great a serenity 
of life, as a mind free from guilt, and kept 
untainted, not only from actions, but purposes 
that are wicked. By this means the soul will be 
not only unpolluted, but not disturbed : the foun- 
tain will run clear and unsullied, and the streams 
that flow from it will be just and honest deeds, 
ecstasies of satisfaction, a brisk energy of spirit, 
which makes a man an enthusiast in his joy. and 
a tenacious memory, sweeter than hope. For as 
shrubs which are cut down with the morning 
dew upon them do for a long time after retain 
their fragrancy, so the good actions of a wise 
man perfume his mind, and leave a rich scent 
behind them. So that joy is. as it were, watered 
with these essences, and owes its flourishing to 
them* 

Plutarch 



l6o 



June 8. 



Who hath despised the day of small things? — 
Zech. iv. 10. 



N occasional effort even of an ordinary holi- 



ness may accomplish great acts of sacri- 
fice, or bear severe pressure of unwonted trial, 
specially if it be the subject of observation. But 
constant discipline in unnoticed ways, and the 
spirit's silent unselfishness, becoming the hidden 
habit of the life, give to it its true saintly beauty, 
and this is the result of care and lowly love in 
little things. Perfection is attained most readily 
by this constancy of religious faithfulness in all 
minor details of life, consecrating the daily efforts 
of self-forgetting love. 



Love's secret is to be always doing things for 
God, and not to mind because they are such 
very little ones. 



There may be living and habitual conversa- 
tion in heaven, under the aspect of the most 
simple, ordinary life. Let us always remember 
that holiness does not consist in doing uncommon 
things, but in doing everything with purity of 
heart. 



Little things 
On little wings 
Bear little souls to heaven. 



Anon. 




T. T. Carter. 



F. W. Faber. 



H. E. Manning 



June 9. 



161 



He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty j 
and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a 
city. — Prov. xvi. 32. 

Purge from our hearts the stains so deep and foul, 

Of wrath and pride and care ; 
Send Thine own holy calm upon the soul, 

And bid it settle there ! 



ET this truth be present to thee in the ex- 



citement of anger, — that to be moved by 
passion is not manly, but that mildness and gen- 
tleness, as they are more agreeable to human 
nature, so also are they more manly. . . . For in 
the same degree in which a man's mind is nearer 
to freedom from all passion, in the same degree 
also is it nearer to strength. 



It is no great matter to associate with the 
good and gentle, for this is naturally pleasing to 
all, and every one willingly enjoyeth peace, and 
loveth those best that agree with him. But to 
be able to live peaceably with hard and perverse 
persons, or with the disorderly, or with such as 
go contrary to us, is a great grace, and a most 
commendable and manly thing. 



Anon. 




Marcus Antoninus. 



Thomas A Kempis. 



11 



162 



June 10. 



Who is a?nong you that feareth the Lord, that 
obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh i?i 
darkness, and hath 710 light? let him trust in the 
na7?ie of the Lord, and stay upon his God. — Is A. 
1. 10. 

The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. 
— Ps. xviii. 28. 

When we in darkness walk, 

Nor feel the heavenly flame. 
Then is the time to trust our God, 

And rest upon His name. 

A. M. Toplady. 

t TE has an especial tenderness of love towards 
thee for that thou art in the dark and hast 
no light, and His heart is glad when thou dost 
arise and say, " I will go to my Father." For He 
sees thee through all the gloom through which 
thou canst not see Him. Say to Him, " My 
God, I am very dull and low and hard ; but 
Thou art wise and high and tender, and Thou 
irt my God. I am Thy child. Forsake me net." 
Then fold the arms of thy faith, and wait in 
quietness until light goes up in the darkness. 
Fold the arms of thy Faith, I say, but not of thy 
Action : bethink thee of something that thou 
oughtest to do, and go and do it, if it be but the 
sweeping of a room, or the preparing of a meal, 
or a visit to a friend ; heed not thy feelings : do 
thy work. 

G. MacDonald 



June 1 1 . 



i63 



In the day when I cried Thou answeredst me, 
and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. — 
Ps. cxxxviii. 3. 

It is not that I feel less weak, but Thou 
Wilt be my strength ; it is not that I see 
Less sin ; but more of pardoning love with Thee, 

And all-sufficient grace. Enough ! And now 
All fluttering thought is stilled ; I only rest, 
And feel that Thou art near, and know that I am blest. 



EA, though thou canst not believe, yet be 



not dismayed thereat; only do thou sink 
into, or at least pant after the hidden measure of 
life, which is not in that which distresseth, dis- 
turbed!, and fillet h thee with thoughts, fears, 
troubles, anguish, darknesses, terrors, and the 
like ; no, no ! but in that which inclines to the 
patience, to the stillness, to the hope, to the wait- 
ing, to the silence before the Father. 



We have only to be patient, to pray, and to 
do His will, according to our present light and 
strength, and the growth of the soul will go on. 
The plant grows in the mist and under clouds as 
truly as under sunshine. So does the heavenly 
principle within. 



F. R. Havergal. 




I. Penington. 



W. E. Chaxning 



164 



June 12. 



77/67/ answered he me. and said. This is the con- 
dition of the battle which man that is bom upon the 
earth shall fight; that, if he be overcome, he shall 
suffer as thou hast said : but if he get the victory, 
he shall receive the thing that I say. — 2 Esdras 
vii. 57. 58. 

One holy Church, one army strong, 

One steadfast high intent, 
One working band, one harvest-song, 

One King omnipotent. 



E listened to a man whom we felt to be, 



with all his heart and soul and strength, 
striving against whatever was mean and unmanly 
and unrighteous in our little world. It was not 
the cold clear voice of one giving advice and 
warning from serene heights to those who were 
struggling and sinning below, but the warm living 
voice of one who was fighting for us and by our 
sides, and calling on us to help him and ourselves 
and one another. And so, wearily and little by 
little, but surely and steadily on the whole, was 
brought home to the young boy, for the first time, 
the meaning of his life ; that it was no fool's or 
sluggard's paradise into which he had wandered 
by chance, but a battle-field ordained from of 
old, where there are no spectators, but the 
youngest must take his side, and the stakes are 
life and death. 



S. Johnson. 




Thomas Hughes 



June 13. 



165 



If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we 
have fellowship one with another. — 1 John i. 7. 

God is not unrighteous to forget your work and 
labor of love, which ye have showed toward His 
name, in that ye ha ve ministered to tne saints, and 
do minister. — Heb. vi. 10. 



Wherever in the world I am, 

In whatsoe'er estate, 
I have a fellowship with hearts, 

To keep and cultivate, 
And a work of lowly love to do 

For the Lord on whom I wait. 



E do not always perceive that even the 



writing of a note of congratulation, the 
fabrication of something intended as an offering 
of affection, our necessary intercourse with char- 
acters which have no congeniality with our own, 
or hours apparently trifled away in the domestic 
circle, may be made by us the performance of a 
most sacred and blessed work ; even the carry- 
ing out, after our feeble measure, of the design of 
God for the increase of happiness. 



Anna, or Passages from Home Life. 



Definite work is not always that which is cut 
and squared for us, but that which comes as a 
claim upon the conscience, whether it 's nursing 
in a hospital, or hemming a handkerchief. 



A. L. Waring. 




Elizabeth M. Sewell 



June 14. 



The Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, 
and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage 
wherein thou wast made to serve. — Is A. xiv. 3. 

Today, beneath Thy chastening eye, 
I crave alone for peace and rest ; 
Submissive in Thy hand to lie, 
And feel that it is best. 

J. G. Whittier. 

LORD, who art as the Shadow of a great 
Rock in a weary land, who behold est Thy 
weak creatures weary of labor, weary of pleasure, 
weary of hope deferred, weary of self; in Thine 
abundant compassion, and unutterable tenderness, 
bring us, I pray Thee, unto Thy rest. Amen. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 

Grant to me above all things that can be de- 
sired, to rest in Thee, and in Thee to have my 
heart at peace. Thou art the true peace of 
the heart, Thou its only rest ; out of Thee all 
things are hard and restless. In this very peace, 
that is, in Thee, the One Chiefest Eternal Good, 
I will sleep and rest. Amen. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord ; and 
our heart is restless until it rests in Thee. 

St. Augustine 



June 15. 



167 



God is our refuge and strength, a very present 
help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though 
the earth be removed, and though the mountains be 
carried into the midst of the sea. — Ps. xlvi. 1,2. 

Though waves and storms go o'er my head, 

Though strength and health and friends be gone, 

Though joys be withered all, and dead, 
Though every comfort be withdrawn, 

On this my steadfast soul relies, — 
Father ! Thy mercy never dies. 

Jo HAN N A. ROTHE. 

XT' OUR external circumstances may change , toil 
may take the place of rest, sickness of 
health, trials may thicken within and without. 
Externally, you are the prey of such circum- 
stances ; but if your heart is stayed on God, no 
changes or chances can touch it, and all that 
may befall you will but draw you closer to Him. 
Whatever the present moment may bring, your 
knowledge that it is His will, and that your 
future heavenly life will be influenced by it. will 
make all not only tolerable, but welcome to you. 
while no vicissitudes can affect you greatly, know- 
ing that He who holds you in His powerful hand 
cannot change, but abideth forever. 

Jean Nicolas Grou 



June 16. 



Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abun- 
dantly above all that we ask or think, according to 
the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory, 
throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. — 
Eph. iii. 20, 21. 



We would not meagre gifts down-call 
When Thou dost yearn to yield us all ; 
But for this life, this little hour, 
Ask all Thy love and care and power. 

J. Ingelow 

/^OD so loveth us that He would make all 
things channels to us and messengers of 
His love. Do for His sake deeds of love, and 
He will give thee His love. Still thyself, thy 
own cares, thy own thoughts for Him, and He 
will speak to thy heart. Ask for Himself, and 
He will give thee Himself. Truly, a secret 
hidden thing is the love of God, known only to 
them who seek it, and to them also secret, for 
what man can have of it here is how slight a 
foretaste of that endless ocean of His love ! 

E. B. Pusey 



June 17. 



169 



Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. — 
Matt. vi. 28. 

They do not toil : 
Content with their allotted task 
They do but grow ; they do not ask 
A richer lot, a higher sphere, 
But in their loveliness appear, 
And grow, and smile, and do their best, 
And unto God they leave the rest. 

Marianne Farningham. 

TNTERPOSE no barrier to His mighty life- 
giving power, working in you all the good 
pleasure of His will. Yield yourself up utterly 
to His sweet control. Put your growing into 
His hands as completely as you have put all your 
other affairs. Suffer Him to manage it as He 
will. Do not concern yourself about it, nor even 
think of it. Trust Him absolutely and always. 
Accept each moment's dispensation as it comes 
to you from His dear hands, as being the needed 
sunshine or dew for that moment's growth. Say 
a continual " yes " to your Father's will. 

H. W. S. 

Thine own self-will and anxiety, thy hurry and 
labor, disturb thy peace and prevent Me from 
working in thee. Look at the little flowers, in 
the serene summer days ; they quietly open 
their petals, and the sun shines into them with 
his gentle influences. So will I do for thee, if 
thou wilt yield thyself to Me. 

G. Tersteegen. 



170 



June 18. 



Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, 
which to-day is, a? id to-morrow is cast into the 
oven, shall He not 77inch more clothe yon, O ye of 
little faith ? — Matt. vi. 30. 

/ trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. — 
Ps. lii. 8. 

Calmly we look behind us, on joys and sorrows past, 
We know that all is mercy now, and shall be well at 
last; 

Calmly we look before us, — we fear no future ill, 
Enough for safety and for peace, if Thou art with us 
still. 

Jane Borthwick. 

TVT EITHER go back in fear and misgiving to 
the past, nor in anxiety and forecasting to 
the future \ but lie quiet under His hand, having 
no will but His. 

H. E. Manning. 

I saw a delicate flower had grown up two feet 
high, between the horses' path and the wheel- 
track. An inch more to right or left had sealed 
its fate, or an inch higher ; and yet it lived to 
flourish as much as if it had a thousand acres of 
untrodden space around it, and never knew the 
danger it incurred. It did not borrow trouble, 
nor invite an evil fate by apprehending it. 

Henry D. Thoreau. 



June 19. 



171 



The Lord shall preserve thee frojn all evil H& 
shall preserve thy soul. — Ps. cxxi. 7. 

Under Thy wings, my God, I rest, 

Under Thy shadow safely lie ; 
By Thy own strength in peace possessed, 

While dreaded evils pass me by. 

A. L. Waring, 

A HEART rejoicing in God delights in all 
His will, and is surely provided with the 
most firm joy in all estates ; for if nothing can 
come to pass beside or against His will, then 
cannot that soul be vexed which delights in Him 
and hath no will but His, but follows Him in all 
times, in all estates ; not only when He shines 
bright on them, but when they are clouded. 
That flower which follows the sun doth so even 
in dark and cloudy days : when it doth not shine 
forth, yet it follows the hidden course and motion 
of it. So the soul that moves after God keeps 
that course when He hides His face ; is content, 
yea, even glad at His will in all estates or condi- 
tions or events. 

R. Leighton. 

Let God do with me what He will, anything 
He will ; whatever it be, it will be either heaven 
itself or some beginning of it. 

Wm. Mountford 



172 



June 20. 



Be merciful unto me, 0 God, be merciful unto 
me: for my soul trusteth in Thee: yea, in the 
shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge, until 
these cala?nities be overpast. — Ps. lvii. 1. 

My God ! in whom are all the springs 
Of boundless love and grace unknown, 

Hide me beneath Thy spreading wings, 
Till the dark cloud is overblown. 

I. Watts. 

TN time of trouble go not out of yourself to 
seek for aid ; for the whole benefit of trial 
consists in silence, patience, rest, and resigna- 
tion. In this condition divine strength is found 
for the hard warfare, because God Himself 
fights for the soul. 

M. Molinos. 

In vain will you let your mind run out after 
help in times of trouble ; it is like putting to sea 
in a storm. Sit still, and feel after your princi- 
ples ; and, if you find none that furnish you with 
somewhat of a stay and prop, and which point 
you to quietness and silent submission, depend 
upon it you have never yet learned Truth from 
the Spirit of Truth, whatever notions thereof you 
may have picked up from this and the other 
description of it. 

M. A. Kelty. 



June 21. 



i/"3 



Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee. — 
Ps. lxxxi. 7. 

Be strong, a?id of good courage j dread not, nor 
be dismayed. — 1 Chrox. xxii. 13. 



Thou canst calm the troubled mind, 

Thou its dread canst still ; 
Teach me to be all resigned 

To my Father's will. 

Heinrich Puchta, 



HOUGH this patient, meek resignation is to 



be exercised with regard to all outward 
things and occurrences of life, yet it chiefly re- 
spects our own inward state, the troubles, per- 
plexities, weaknesses, and disorders of our own 
souls. And to stand turned to a patient, meek, 
humble resignation to God, when your own im- 
patience, wrath, pride, and irresignation attack 
yourself, is a higher and more beneficial per- 
formance of this duty, than when you stand 
turned to meekness and patience, when attacked 
by the pride, or wrath, or disorderly passions of 
other people. 




Wh. Law 



174 



June 22. 



There hath no temptation taken yon, but such as 
is common to man : but God is faithful, who will 
not suffer you to be te?npted above that ye are able j 
'but will with the te??iptation also make a way to 
escape, that ye ?nay be able to bear it. — I Cor. x. 
13, 14- 

Not so, not so, no load of woe 
Need bring despairing frown ; 

For while we bear it, we can bear, 
Past that, we lay it down. 

Sarah Williams. 

"EVERYTHING which happens, either hap- 
pens in such wise that thou art formed by 
nature to bear it, or that thou art not formed by 
nature to bear it. If then, it happens to thee in 
such way that thou art formed by nature to bear 
it, do not complain, but bear it as thou art 
formed by nature to bear it. But, if it happens 
in such wise that thou art not able to bear it, do 
not complain ; for it will perish after it has con- 
sumed thee. Remember, however, that thou art 
formed by nature to bear everything, with respect 
to which it depends on thy own opinion to make 
it endurable and tolerable, by thinking that it is 
either thy interest or thy duty to do this. 

Marcus Antoninus. 



June 23. 



175 



Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why 
art thou disquieted within me ? hope thou in God ; 
for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my 
countenance, and my God. — Ps. xlii. 1 1. 

Ah ! why by passing clouds oppressed, 
Should vexing thoughts distract thy breast r 
Turn thou to Him in every pain, 
Whom never suppliant sought in vain ; 
Thy strength in joy's ecstatic day, 
Thy hope, when joy has passed away. 

H. F. Lyte. 

T3EWARE of letting your care degenerate into 
anxiety and unrest; tossed as you are 
amid the winds and waves of sundry troubles, 
keep your eyes fixed on the Lord, and say, " Oh, 
my God, I look to Thee alone ; be Thou my 
guide, my pilot;" and then be comforted, 
When the shore is gained, who will heed the ton 
and the storm ? And we shall steer safely through 
every storm, so long as our heart is right, our in- 
tention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our 
trust fixed on God. If at times we are some- 
what stunned by the tempest, never fear ; let us 
take breath, and go on afresh. Do not be dis- 
concerted by the fits of vexation and uneasiness 
which are sometimes produced by the multiplicity 
of your domestic worries. No indeed, dearest 
child, all these are but opportunities of strength- 
ening yourself in the loving, forbearing graces 
which our dear Lord sets before us. 

Francis de Sales. 



i 7 6 



June 24. 



Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy 
sight. — Matt. xi. 26. 

Let nothing make thee sad or fretful, 
Or too regretful ; 
Be still ; 

What God hath ordered must be right ? 
Then find in it thine own delight, 
My will. 

P. Flemming. 

FT we listen to our self-love, we shall estimate 
our lot less by what it is, than by what it is 
not \ shall dwell on its hindrances, and be blind 
to its possibilities ; and, comparing it only with 
imaginary lives, shall indulge in flattering dreams 
of what we should do, if we had but power ; and 
give, if we had but wealth ; and be, if we had no 
temptations. We shall be forever querulously 
pleading our difficulties and privations as excuses 
for our unloving temper and unfruitful life ; and 
fancying ourselves injured beings, virtually frown- 
ing at the dear Providence that loves us, and 
chafing with a self-torture which invites no pity. 
If we yield ourselves unto God, and sincerely 
accept our lot as assigned by Him, we shall 
count up its contents, and disregard its omissions ; 
and be it as feeble as a cripple's, and as narrow 
as a child's, shall find in it resources of good 
surpassing our best economy, and sacred claims 
that may keep awake our highest will. 

J. Martineau. 



June 25. 



177 



My times are in Thy hand. — Ps. xxxi. 15. 
Every purpose of the Lord shall be performed. 
— -Jer. li. 29. 

I AM so glad ! It is such rest to know 

That Thou hast ordered and appointed all, 

And wilt yet order and appoint my lot. 

For though so much I cannot understand, 

And would not choose, has been, and yet may be, 

Thou choosest, Thou performest, Thou, my Lord. 

This is enough for me. 

F. R. Havergal. 

" W/E mustn't be in a hurry to fix and choose 
our own lot ; we must wait to be guided. 
We are led on, like the little children, by a way 
that we know not. It is a vain thought to flee 
from the work that God appoints us. for the sake 
of finding a greater blessing to our own souls ; as 
if we could choose for ourselves where we shall 
find the fulness of the Divine Presence, instead 
of seeking it where alone it is to be found, in 
loving obedience." 

George Eliot. 

Everywhere and at all times it is in thy 
power piously to acquiesce in thy present con- 
dition, and to behave justly to those who are 
about thee. 

Marcus Antoninus. 

12 



i -s 



June 26. 



And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have 
aught against any ; that your Father also which is 
in heaven 7nay forgive you your trespasses. But 
if ve do not forgive, neither will your Father which 
is in heaven forgive your trespasses. — Mark xi. 
25, 26. 

'T is not enough to weep my sins, 
'T is but one step to heaven : — 

When I am kind to others, — then 
I know myself forgiven. 

F. W. Faber. 

"pVERY relation to mankind, of hate or scorn 
or neglect, is full of vexation and torment. 
There is nothing to do with men but to love 
them ; to contemplate their virtues with admira- 
tion, their faults with pity and forbearance, and 
their injuries with forgiveness. Task all the in- 
genuity of your mind to devise some other thing, 
but you never can find it. To hate your adver- 
sary will not help you ; to kill him will not help 
you : nothing within the compass of the universe 
can help you, but to love him. But let that love 
flow out upon all around you, and what could 
harm you ? How many a knot of mystery and 
misunderstanding would be untied by one word 
spoken in simple and confiding truth of heart ! 
How many a solitary place would be made glad 
if love were there ; and how many a dark dwell- 
ing would be filled with light ! 

Orville Dewey 



June 27. 



179 



The kingdom of God is within you. — Luke 
xvii. 21. 

Oh, take this heart that I would give 

Forever to be all Thine own ; 
I to myself no more would live, — 

Come, Lord, be Thou my King alone. 

G. Tersteegen. 

TLJ EREIN is the work assigned to the individ- 
A ual soul, to have life in itself, to make our 
sphere, whatever it is, sufficient for a reign of 
God within ourselves, for a true and full reign of 
our Father's abounding spirit, — thankful, unut- 
terably thankful, if with the place and the com- 
panionship assigned to us we are permitted to 
build an earthly tabernacle of grace and good- 
ness and holy love, a home like a temple ; but, 
should this be denied us, resolved for our own 
souls that God shall reign there, for ourselves at 
least that we will not, by sin or disobedience or 
impious distrust, break with our own wills our 
filial connection with our Father, — that whether 
joyful or sorrowing, struggling with the perplexity 
and foulness of circumstance, or in an atmos- 
phere of peace, whether in dear fellowship or 
alone, our desire and prayer shall be that God 
may have in us a realm where His will is law, and 
where obedience and submission spring, not from 
calculating prudence or ungodly fear, but from 
communion of spirit, ever humble aspiration, 
and ever loving trust. 

J. H. Thom 



I So 



June 28. 



The Lord preserveth the simple. — Ps. cxvh 6. 



Thy home is with the humble, Lord I 

The simple are Thy rest ; 
Thy lodging is in childlike hearts ; 

Thou makest there Thy nest. 

F. W. Faber 



HIS deliverance of the soul from all useless 



and selfish and unquiet cares, brings to it 
an unspeakable peace and freedom ; this is 
true simplicity. This state of entire resignation 
and perpetual acquiescence produces true lib- 
erty ; and this liberty brings perfect simplicity. 
The soul which knows no self-seeking, no inter- 
ested ends, is thoroughly candid ; it goes straight 
forward without hindrance ; its path opens daily 
more and more to " perfect day/' in proportion 
as its self-renunciation and its self-forgetfulness 
increase ; and its peace, amid whatever troubles 
beset it, will be as boundless as the depths of the 




Fenelon, 



June 29. 



181 



Let not hint that girdeth on his harness boast 
himself as he that pictteth it off. — i Kings xx. ii. 
Put on the whole armor of God. — Eph. vi. 1 1 . 

Was I not girded for the battle-field ? 
Bore I not helm of pride and glittering sword ? 
Behold the fragments of my broken shield, 
And lend to me Thy heavenly armor, Lord ! 



H, be at least able to say in that day, — 



v - y Lord. I am no hero. I have been care- 
less, cowardly, sometimes all but mutinous. 
Punishment I have deserved, I deny it not. 
But a traitor I have never been ; a deserter I 
have never been. I have tried to fight on Thy 
side in Thy battle against evil. I have tried to 
do the duty which lay nearest me ; and to leave 
whatever Thou didst commit to my charge a 
little better than I found it. 1 have not been 
good, but I have at least tried to be good. 
Take the will for the deed, good Lord. Strike 
not my unworthy name off the roll-call of the 
noble and victorious army, which is the blessed 
company of all faithful people ; and let me, too, 
be found written in the Book of Life ; even though 
I stand the lowest and last upon its list. Amen. 



Anon. 




C. Kings ley. 



182 



June SO. 



And the work of righteousness shall be peace j 
and the effect of righteous ness, quietness and assur- 
ance forever. — ■ Isa. xxxii. 17. 



The heart that ministers for Thee 

In Thy own work will rest ; 
And the subject spirit of a child 

Can serve Thy children best. 

A. L. Waring. 



TT matters not where or what we are, so we be 
His servants. They are happy who have a 
wide field and great strength to fulfil His mis- 
sions of compassion ; and they, too, are blessed 
who, in sheltered homes and narrow ways oi 
duty, wait upon Him in lowly services of love. 
Wise or simple, gifted or slender in knowledge, 
in the world's gaze or in hidden paths, high 
or low, encompassed by affections and joys of 
home, or lonely and content in God alone, what 
matters, so that they bear the seal of the living 
God? Blessed company, unknown to each 
other, unknowing even themselves ! 

H. E. Manning. 



July 1. 



183 



In the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the 
Lord, — Ex. xvi. 7. 

Serving the Lord; rejoici?ig in hope. — Rom. 
xii. 11, i2o 

Every day is a fresh beginning, 

Every morn is the world made new. 

You who are weary of sorrow and sinning, 

Here is a beautiful hope for you ; 

A hope for me and a hope for you. 

Susan Coolidge. 

13 E patient with every one, but above all with 
yourself. I mean, do not be disturbed be- 
cause of your imperfections, and always rise up 
bravely from a fall. I am glad that you make a 
daily new beginning ; there is no better means 
of progress in the spiritual life than to be contin- 
ually beginning afresh, and never to think that 
we have done enough, 

Francis de Sales. 

Because perseverance is so difficult, even 
when supported by the grace of God, thence is 
the value of new beginnings. For new begin- 
nings are the life of perseverance. 

E. B. Pusey 



July 2. 



Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a 
conscience void of offence toward God, and toward 
men, — Acts xxiv. 16. 

/ will instruct thee and teach thee in the way 
which thou shall goj I will guide thee with mine 
eye. — Ps. xxxii. 8. 

Oh, keep thy conscience sensitive ; 

No inward token miss ; 
And go where grace entices thee ; — 

Perfection lies in this. 

F. W. Faber. 

TT7"E need only obey. There is guidance for 
each of us, and by lowly listening we 
shall hear the right word. 

R. W. Emerson. 

The heights of Christian perfection can only 
be reached by faithfully each moment following 
the Guide who is to lead you there, and He re- 
veals your way to you one step at a time, in the 
little things of your daily lives, asking only on 
your part that you yield yourselves up to His 
guidance. If then, in anything you feel doubt- 
ful or troubled, be sure that it is the voice of 
your Lord, and surrender it at once to His bid- 
ding, rejoicing with a great joy that He has be- 
gun thus to lead and guide you. 

H. W. S. 



July 3. 



He shall redeem Israel fro7n all his iniquities. 
— Ps. cxxx. 8. 

Be it according to Thy word ; 

Redeem me from all sin ; 
My heart would now receive Thee, Lord, 

Come in, my Lord, come in ! 

C. Wesley. 

VX7HEN you wake, or as soon as you are 
dressed, offer up your whole self to God, 
soul and body, thoughts and purposes and de- 
sires, to be for that day what He wills. Think 
of the occasions of the sin likely to befall you, 
and go, as a child, to your Father which is in 
heaven, and tell Him in childlike, simple words, 
your trials — in some such simple words as 
these — " Thou knowest, good Lord, that I am 
tempted to — [then name the temptations to it, 
and the ways in which you sin, as well as you 
know them\ But, good Lord, for love of Thee, 
I would this day keep wholly from all [naming 
the si?i\ and be very \jiaming the opposite 
grace]. I will not, by Thy grace, do one [N.] 
act, or speak one [N.] word, or give one [N.] 
look, or harbor one [N.] thought in my soul. If 
Thou allow any of these temptations to come 
upon me this day, I desire to think, speak, and 
do only what Thou wiliest. Lord, without Thee 
I can do nothing; with Thee I can do all." 

E. B. Pusey 



1 86 July 4. 



Look at the generations of old, and see ; did ever 
any trust in the Lord, and was confounded f or 
did any abide in His fear, and was forsake?i ? or 
whom did He ever despise, that called upon Hint t 
— Ecclus. ii. 10. 

Remember, 0 Lord, Thy te?ider mercies, and 
Thy loving-kindnesses ; for they have been ever of 
old. — Ps. xxv. 6. 

My Father ! see 
I trust the faithfulness displayed of old, 
I trust the love that never can grow cold — 

I trust in Thee. 

Christian Intelligencer. 

T3E not so much discouraged in the sight of 
what is yet to be done, as comforted in 
His good- will towards thee. 'T is true, He hath 
chastened thee with rods and sore afflictions ; 
but did He ever take away His loving-kindness 
from thee? or did His faithfulness ever fail in 
the sorest, blackest, thickest, darkest night that 
ever befell thee ? 

I. Peningtox. 

We call Him the " God of our fathers ; " and 
we feel that there is some stability at centre, 
while we can tell our cares to One listening at 
our right hand, by whom theirs are remembered 
and removed. 

J. Martineau 



July 5. 



187 



He stayeth His rough wind in the day of the 
east wind. — Isa. xxvii. 8. 

A bruised reed shall He not break. — Isa: xlii. 3. 



All my life I still have found, 
And I will forget it never ; 

Every sorrow hath its bound. 
And no cross endures forever. 

All things else have but their day, 

God's love only lasts for aye. 



E never have more than we can bear. 



The present hour we are always able to 
endure. As our day. so is our strength. If the 
trials of many years were gathered into one, they 
would overwhelm us ; therefore, in pity to our 
little strength, He sends first one, then another, 
then removes both, and lays on a third, heav- 
ier, perhaps, than either ; but all is so wisely 
measured to our strength that the bruised reed 
is never broken. We do not enough look at our 
trials in this continuous and successive view. 
Each one is sent to teach us something, and al- 
together they have a lesson which is beyond the 
power of any to teach alone. 



P. Gerhardt. 




H. E. Manning 



i8S 



July 6. 



I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and 
zv ill hold thine hand, and will keep thee. — Is A. 
xlii. 6. 

O keep my soul, and deliver me: for I put 
my trust in Thee. — Ps. xxv. 20. 

I DO not ask my cross to understand, 

My wav to see ; 
Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand, 

And follow Thee. 

Adelaide A. Procter. 



LORD, if only my will may remain right 



and firm towards Thee, do with me what- 
soever it shall please Thee. For it cannot be 
anything but good, whatsoever Thou shalt do 
with me. If it be Thy will I should be in dark- 
ness, be Thou blessed ; and, if it be Thy will I 
should be in light, be Thou again blessed. If 
Thou vouchsafe to comfort me, be Thou blessed ; 
and. if Thou wilt have me afflicted, be Thou 
equally blessed. O Lord ! for Thy sake I will 
cheerfully suffer whatever shall come on me with 
Thy permission. 



My soul could not incline itself on the one 
side or the other, since another will had taken 
the place of its own ; but only nourished itself 
with the daily providences of God. 




Thomas a Kempis. 



Madame Guyon. 



July 7. 



189 



The Lord is my light and my salvation j whom 
shall I fearf The Lord is the strength of my lifej 
of whom shall I be afraid? — Ps. xxvii. 1, 

Thou hidden Source of calm repose, 

Thou all-sufficient Love divine, 
My Help and Refuge from my foes, 

Secure I am while Thou art mine \ 
And lo ! from sin, and grief, and shame, 
I hide me, Father, in Thy name. 



HATEVER troubles come on you, of 



* * mind, body, or estate, from within or 
from without, from chance or from intent, from 
friends or foes — whatever your trouble be, though 
you be lonely, O children of a heavenly Father, 
be not afraid ! 



Whatsoever befalleth thee, receive it not 
from the hand of any creature, but from Him 
alone, and render back all to Him, seeking in all 
things His pleasure and honor, the purifying and 
subduing of thyself. What can harm thee, when 
all must first touch God, within whom thou hast 
enclosed thyself ? 



How God rejoices over a soul, which, sur- 
rounded on all sides by suffering and misery, 
does that upon earth which the angels do in 
heaven ; namely, loves, adores, and praises 



C. Wesley. 




J. H. Newman, 



R. LeightoN: 



God! 



G. Tersteegen 



July 8. 



Be ye kind one to another. — Eph. iv. 32. 

She doeth little kindnesses 

Which most leave undone or despise ; 
For nought which sets one heart at ease, 
And giveth happiness or peace 5 

Is low-esteemed in her eyes. 



HAT was the secret of such a one's power? 



What had she done? Absolutely noth- 
ing; but radiant smiles, beaming good-humor, 
the tact of divining what every one felt and 
every one wanted, told that she had got out of 
self and learned to think of others ; so that at 
one time it showed itself in deprecating the 
quarrel, which lowering brows and raised tones 
already showed to be impending, by sweet 
words ; at another, by smoothing an invalid's pil- 
low ; at another, by soothing a sobbing child : at 
another, by humoring and softening a father who 
had returned weary and ill-tempered from the 
irritating cares of business. None but she saw 
those things. None but a loving heart could see 
them. That was the secrer of her heavenly 
power. The one who will be found in trial ca- 
pable of great acts of love, is ever the one who 
is always doing considerate small ones. 



J. R, Lowell 




F. W. Robertson 



July 9. 



191 



Love is of God ; and every one that loveth is 
born of God, and knoweth God. — 1 John iv. 7. 

Forbearing one another. a?id forgiving one an^ 
other, if any man have a quarrel {or " complaint"} 
against any. — Col. iii. 13. 



E may, if we choose, make the worst of one 



another. Every one has his weak points ; 
every one has his faults ; we may make the worst 
of these ; we may fix our attention constantly 
upon these. But we may also make the best of 
one another. We may forgive, even as we hope 
to be forgiven. We may put ourselves in the 
place of others, and ask what we should wish to 
be done to us, and thought of us. were we in 
their place. By loving whatever is lovable in 
those around us, love will flow back from them 
to us, and life will become a pleasure instead of 
a pain ; and earth will become like heaven ; and 
we shall become not unworthy followers of Him 
whose name is Love. 



Oh, might we all our lineage prove, 
Give and forgive, do good and love ; 
By soft endearments, in kind strife, 
Lightening the load of daily life. 



J. KeblEc 




A. P. Stanley 



192 



July 10. 



The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me : 
Thy 7nercy, 0 Lord, endureth forever j forsake not 
the works of Thine own hands. — Ps. cxxxviii. 8. 

As God leads me, will I go, — 

Nor choose my way ; 
Let Him choose the joy or woe 

Of every day : 
They cannot hurt my soul, 
Because in His control : 
I leave to Him the whole, — 

His children may. 

L. Gedicke. 

is it that we are so busy with the 
future ? It is not our province ; and is 
there not a criminal interference with Him to 
whom ^.t belongs, in our feverish, anxious at- 
tempts to dispose of it, and in filling it up with 
shadows of good and evil shaped by our own 
wild imaginations ? To do God's will as fast as it 
is made known to us, to inquire hourly — I had 
almost said each moment — what He requires of 
us, and to leave ourselves, our friends, and every 
interest at His control, with a cheerful trust that 
the path which He marks out leads to our per- 
fection and to Himself, — this is at .once our 
duty and happiness ; and why will we not walk 
in the plain, simple way? 

William E. Channing 



July 11. 



193 



When He giveth quietness, who then can make 
trouble ? — Job xxxiv. 29. 

None of these things move me. — Acts xx. 24. 



I 'ye manv a cross to take up now, 

And many left behind ; 
But present troubles move me not 5 

Nor shake my quiet mind. 
And what may be to-morrow's cross 

I never seek to find ; 
My Father says, "Leave that to me, 



ET us then think only of the present, and 



not even permit our minds to wander with 
curiosity into the future. This future is not yet 
ours ; perhaps it never will be. It is exposing 
ourselves to temptation to wish to anticipate 
God, and to prepare ourselves for things which 
He may not destine for us. If such things 
should come to pass, He will give us light and 
strength according to the need. Why should we 
desire to meet difficulties prematurely, when we 
have neither strength nor light as yet provided for 
them? Let us give heed to the present, whose 
duties are pressing ; it is fidelity to the present 
which prepares us for fidelity in the future. 



Everv hour comes with some little fagot of 
God's will fastened upon its back. 



And keep a quiet mind.'' 



Axon. 




Fexelox. 



F. W. Faber 



194 



July 12. 



Be strong, and of a good courage, fear not, nor be 
afraid . . . for the Lord thy God, He it is that doth 
go with thee j He will not fail thee, nor forsake 
thee. — Deut. xxxi. 6. 



The timid it concerns to ask their way, 

And fear what foe in caves and swamps can stray, 

To make no step until the event is known, 

And ills to come as evils past bemoan. 

Not so the wise ; no coward watch he keeps 

To spy what danger on his pathway creeps ; 

Go where he will, the wise man is at home, 

His hearth the earth, — his hall the azure dome ; 

Where his clear spirit leads him, there 's his road, 

By God's own light illumined and foreshowed. 

R. W. Emerson 



'T^HOUGH I sympathize, I do not share in 
the least the feeling of being disheartened 
and cast down. It is not things of this sort that 
depress me, or ever will. The contrary things, 
praise, openings, the feeling of the greatness of 
my work, and my inability in relation to it, these 
things oppress and cast me down ; but little hin- 
drances, and closing up of accustomed or ex- 
pected avenues, and the presence of difficulties 
to be overcome, — I'm not going to be cast 
down by trifles such as these. 

James Hinton 



July 13. 



195 



And the Lord shall guide thee continually \ and 
satisfy thy soul in drought. — Is A. lviii. 11. 



Wherever He may guide me, 

No want shall turn me back ; 
My Shepherd is beside me, 

And nothing can I lack. 
His wisdom ever waketh, 

His sight is never dim, — 
He knows the way He taketh, 

And I will walk with Him. 

A. L. Waring. 

A BANDON yourself to His care and guid- 
ance, as a sheep in the care of a shepherd, 
and trust Him utterly. No matter though you 
may seem to yourself to be in the very midst of a 
desert, with nothing green about you, inwardly 
or outwardly, and may think you will have to 
make a long journey before you can get into the 
green pastures. Our Shepherd will turn that 
very place where you are into green pastures, for 
He has power to make the desert rejoice and 
blossom as a rose. 

H. W. S 



196 



July 14. 



Be not conformed to this world; but be ye trans- 
formed by the renewing of your mind. — Rom. 
xii. 2. 

Father, let our faithful mind 

Rest, on Thee alone inclined ; 

Every anxious thought repress, 

Keep our souls in perfect r peace. C. Wesley. 

~D ETIREMENT from anxieties of every kind ; 

entering into no disputes ; avoiding all 
frivolous talk ; and simplifying everything we 
engage in, whether in a way of doing or suffer- 
ing ; denying the imagination its false activities, 
and the intellect its false searchings after what it 
cannot obtain, — these seem to be some of the 
steps that lead to obedience to the holy precept 
in our text. James P. Greaves. 

Retire inwardly ; wait to feel somewhat of 
God's Spirit, discovering and drawing away from 
that which is contrary to His holy nature, and 
leading into that which is acceptable to Him. 
As the mind is joined to this, some true light 
and life is received. 1 . Penington. 

Act up faithfully to your convictions ; and 
when you have been unfaithful, bear with your- 
self, and resume always with calm simplicity 
your little task. Suppress, as much as you pos- 
sibly can, all recurrence to yourself, and you 
will suppress much vanity. Accustom yourself to 
much calmness and an indifference to events. 

Madame Guyon. 



July 15. 



Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift 
them up, ye everlasting doors j and the King of 
glory shall come in. — Ps. xxiv. 9. 

Ye are the temple of the living God. — 2 Cor. 
vi. 16. 



Fling wide the portals of your heart, 
Make it a temple set apart 
From earthly use for Heaven's employ, 
Adorned with prayer, and love, and joy. 
So shall your Sovereign enter in, 
And new and nobler life begin. 

Weiszel 

T^HOU art to know that thy soul is the centre, 
habitation, and kingdom of God. That, 
therefore, to the end the sovereign King may 
rest on that throne of thy soul, thou oughtest to 
take pains to keep it clean, quiet, and peaceable, 
— clean from guilt and defects • quiet from 
fears ; and peaceable in temptations and tribula- 
tions. Thou oughtest always, then, to keep thine 
heart in peace, that thou mayest keep pure that 
temple of God ; and with a right and pure inten- 
tion thou art to work, pray, obey, and suffer 
(without being in the least moved), whatever it 
pleases the Lord to send unto thee. 

M. Molinos 



198 



July 16. 



Oh how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast 
laid up for them that fear Theej which Thou 
hast wrought for them that trust in Thee. — Ps. 
xxxi. 19. 

/ will sing unto the Lord, because He hath dealt 
bountifully with ?ne. — Ps. xiii. 6. 

Thy calmness bends serene above 

My restlessness to still ; 
Around me flows Thy quickening life, 

To nerve my faltering will ; 
Thy presence fills my solitude ; 
Thy providence turns all to good. 



ITH a heart devoted to God and full of 



God, no longer seek Him in the heavens 
above or the earth beneath, or in the things under 
the earth, but recognize Him as the great fact 
of the universe, separate from no place or part, 
but revealed in all places and in all things and 
events, moment by moment. And as eternity 
alone will exhaust this momentary revelation? 
which has sometimes been called the Eternal 
Now, thou shalt thus find God ever present and 
ever new ; and thy soul shall adore Him and feed 
upon Him in the things and events which each 
new moment brings ; and thou shalt never be 
absent from Him, and He shall never be absent 
from thee. 



S. Longfellow. 




T. C. UphaM: 



July 17. 



199 



For I reckon that the sufferings of this present 
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory 
which shall be revealed in us. — Rom. viii. 18. 

The power of an eiidless life. — Heb. vii. 16. 



Beliey'st thou in eternal things ? 

Thou knowest, in thy inmost heart, 
Thou art not clay ; thy soul hath wings, 

And what thou seest is but part. 
Make this thy med'cine for the smart 

Of every day's distress ; be dumb, 
In each new loss thou truly art 

Tasting the power of things that come. 



VERY contradiction of our will, every little 



ailment, every petty disappointment, will, 
if we take it patiently, become a blessing. So, 
walking on earth, we may be in heaven • the ill- 
tempers of others, the slights and rudenesses of 
the world, ill-health, the daily accidents with 
which God has mercifully strewed our paths, in- 
stead of ruffling or disturbing our peace, may 
cause His peace to be shed abroad in our hearts 
abundantly. 



T. W. Parsons, 




E. B. Pusey 



200 



July 18. 



A new commandment I give unto yon, That ye 
love one another j as I have loved you, that ye also 
love one another. — John xiii. 34. 

And the Lord ?nake you to increase and abound 
in love, one toward another, and toward all men. 
— 1 Thess. iii. 12. 

Let love through all my conduct shine. 
An image fair, though faint, of Thine ; 
Thus let me his disciple prove, 
Who came to manifest Thy love. 

Anon. 

\ X should arrive at a fulness of love extend- 
ing to the whole creation, a desire to im- 
part, to pour out in full and copious streams the 
love and goodness we bear to all around us. 

J. P. Greaves. 

Goodness and love mould the form into their 
own image, and cause the joy and beauty of love 
to shine forth from every part of the face. When 
this form of love is seen, it appears ineffably 
beautiful, and affects with delight the inmost life 
of the soul. 

SWEDENBORG. 

The soul within had so often lighted up her 
countenance with its own full happiness and joy, 
that something of a permanent radiance remained 
upon it. 

Anna, or Passages from Home Life 



July 19. 



20I 



The Lord is good to all j and His tender jnercies 
tre over all His works. — Ps. cxlv. 9. 

For every beast of the forest is Mine^ and the 
tattle upon a thousand hills. — Ps. I. 10. 

Maker of earth and sea and sky, 
Creation's sovereign Lord and King, 

Who hung the starry worlds on high, 
And formed alike the sparrow's wing ; 

Bless the dumb creatures of Thy care, 

And listen to their voiceless prayer. 

Anon. 

T BELIEVE where the love of God is verily 
perfected, and the true spirit of government 
watchfully attended to, a tenderness towards all 
creatures made subject to us will be experienced ; 
and a care felt in us, that we do not lessen that 
sweetness of life in the animal creation, which 
the great Creator intends for them under our 
government. . . . To say we love God as un- 
seen, and at the same time exercise cruelty 
toward the least creature moving by His life, or 
by life derived from Him, was a contradiction in 
itself. 

John Woolman. 

I would give nothing for that man's religion 
whose very dog and cat are not the better for it. 

Rowland Hill. 



202 



July 20. 



Then I said, I have labored in vain, I havt 
spent my strength for nought, and i?i vain. — Is A. 
xlix. 4. 

Because I spent the strength Thou gavest me 
In struggle which Thou never didst ordain, 
And have but dregs of life to offer Thee — 
O Lord, I do repent. 

Sarah Williams. 

MIND, it is our best work that He wants, not 
the dregs of our exhaustion. I think He 
must prefer quality to quantity. 

George MacDonald. 

If the people about you are carrying on their 
business or their benevolence at a pace which 
drains the life out of you. resolutely take a slower 
pace : be called a laggard, make less money, ac- 
complish less work than they, but be what you 
were meant to be and can be. You have your 
natural limit of power as much as an engine. — 
ten-horse power, or twenty, or a hundred. You 
are fit to do certain kinds of work, and you need 
a certain kind and amount of fuel, and a certain 
kind of handling. George S. Merriam. 

In your occupations, try to possess your soul 
in peace. It is not a good plan to be in haste 
to perform any action that it may be the sooner 
over. On the contrary, you should accustom 
yourself to do whatever you have to do with tran- 
quillity, in order that you may retain the posses- 
sion of yourself and of settled peace. 

Madame Guton 



July 21. 



203 



For which cause we faint not j but, though our 
outward ?nan fterisli, yet the inward man is re- 
newed day by day. — 2 Cor. iv. 16. 

Let my soul beneath her load 

Faint not through the o'erwearied flesh; 

Let me hourly drink afresh 

Love and peace from Thee, my God! 

RlCHTER. 

JN my attempts to promote the comfort of my 
family, the quiet of my spirit has been dis- 
turbed. Some of this is doubtless owing to 
physical weakness ; but. with every temptation, 
there is a way of escape : there is iicixr any need 
to sin. Another thing I have suffered loss from. 
■ — entering into the business of the day without 
seeking to have my spirit quieted and directed. 
So many things press upon me. this is sometimes 
neglected : shame to me that it should be so. 

This is of great importance, to watch carefully. 
— now I am so weak — not to over-fatigue my- 
self, because then I cannot contribute to the 
pleasure of others : and a placid face and a gen- 
tle tone will make my family more happy than 
anything else I can do for them. Our own will 
gets sadly into the performance of our duties 
sometimes. 

Elizabeth T. King, 1856 



204 



July 22. 



Whoso is wise, and unll observe these things, 
even they shall understand the loving-kindness of 
the Lord. — Ps. cvii. 43. 

What channel needs our faith, except the eves? 

God leaves no spot of earth unglorihed; 
Profuse and wasteful, lovelinesses rise; 

New beauties dawn before the old have died. 

Trust thou thy joys in keeping of the Power 
Who holds these changing shadows in His hand; 

Believe and live, and know that hour by hour 
Will ripple newer beauty to thy strand. 

T. W. HlGGIXSOX. 

T WONDERED over again for the hundredth 
time what could be the principle which, in 
the wildest, most lawless, fantastically chaotic, 
apparently capricious work of nature, always kept 
it beautiful. The beauty of holiness must be at 
the heart of it somehow. I thought. Because 
our God is so free from stain, so loving, so un- 
selfish, so good, so altogether what He wants us 
to be. so holy, therefore all His works declare 
Him in beauty : His fingers can touch nothing 
but to mould it into loveliness ; and even the 
play of His elements is m grace and tenderness 
of form. 

G MacDonald. 



July 23. 



205 



Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
strength, and with all thy mind. — Luke x. 27. 

O God, what offering shall I give 

To Thee, the Lord of earth and skies ? 
My spirit, soul, and flesh receive, 



O love God "with all our heart/' is to 



± know the spiritual passion of measureless 
gratitude for loving-kindness, and self-devoted- 
ness to goodness ; to love Him " with all our 
mind," is to know the passion for Truth that is 
the enthusiasm of Science, the passion for Beauty 
that inspires the poet and the artist, when all 
truth and beauty are regarded as the self-reveal- 
ings of God ; to love Him >; with all our soul," is 
to know the saint's rapture of devotion and gaze 
of penitential awe into the face of the All-holy, 
the saint's abhorrence of sin, and agony of desire 
to save a sinner's soul; and to love Him "with 
all our strength," is the supreme spiritual passion 
that tests the rest ; the passion for reality, for 
worship in spirit and in truth, for being what we 
adore, for doing what we know to be God's 
word ; the loyalty that exacts the living sacrifice, 
the whole burnt-offering that is our reasonable 
service, and in our coldest hours keeps stead- 
fast to what seemed good when we were aglow. 



A holy, living sacrifice. 



J. Lange. 




J. H. Thom. 



206 



July 24. 



Walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto 
His kingdom and glory. — I Thess. ii. 12. 

Surely the Lord is 711 this place ; and I knew it 
not. — Gen. xxviii. 16. 

Thou earnest not to thy place by accident, 

It is the very place God meant for thee ; 

And shouldst thou there small scope for action see, 

Do not for this give room to discontent. 

R. C. Trench. 

^/^CCEPT the place the divine providence has 
found for you, the society of your content 
poraries, the connection of events. 

R. W. Emerson. 

Adapt thyself to the things with which thy lot 
has been cast ; and love the men with whom it 
is thy portion to live, and that with a sincere af- 
fection. . . . No longer be either dissatisfied with 
thy present lot, or shrink from the future. 

Marcus Antoninus, 

I love best to have each thing in its season, 
doing without it at all other times. I have never 
got over my surprise that I should have been 
born into the most estimable place in all the 
world, and in the very nick of time too, 

IT. D. Tiioreau 



July 25. 



207 



He knoweth the way that T take. — Job xxiii. 10. 
Man's goings are of the Lord; how can a man 
then understand his own way ? — Prov. xx. 24, 

Be quiet, why this anxious heed 
About thy tangled ways ? 
God knows them all, He giveth speed, 
And He allows delays. 

E. W. 

\\J E complain of the slow, dull life we are 
forced to lead, of our humble sphere of 
action, of our low position in the scale of society, 
of our having no room to make ourselves known, 
of our wasted energies, of our years of patience. 
So do we say that we have no Father who is di- 
recting our life ; so do we say that God has for- 
gotten us ; so do we boldly judge what life is 
best for us ; and so by our complaining do we 
lose the use and profit of the quiet years. O 
men of little faith ! Because you are not sent 
out yet into your labor, do you think God has 
ceased to remember you ? Because you are 
forced to be outwardly inactive, do you think 
you, also, may not be, in your years of quiet, 
" about your Father's business "? . . . It is a pe- 
riod given to us in which to mature ourselves for 
the work which God will give us to do. 

Stopford A. Brooke 



20S 



July 26. 



They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount 
Zion, which cannot be removed, but abidcth for ever. 
As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so 
the Lord is round about His people from henceforth 



How on a rock they stand, 
Who watch His eye, and hold His guiding hand ! 
Not half so fixed amid her vassal hills, 
Rises the holy pile that Kedrons valley fills. 



HAT is the wav to be immovable in the 



midst of troubles, as a rock amidst the 
waves. When God is in the midst of a kingdom 
or city. He makes it firm as Mount Sion. that 
cannot be removed. When He is in the midst 
of a soul, though calamities throng about it on 
all hands, and roar like the billows of the sea. 
yet there i's a constant calm within, such a peace 
as the world can neither give nor take away. 
What is it but want of lodging God in the soul, 
and that in His stead the world is in men's 
hearts,, that makes them shake like leaves at 
every blast of danger ? 



even for ever 



'\ — PS. CXXV. 1,2. 



J. Keble. 




R. Leighton 



July 27. 



209 



He that received seed into the good grotmd is 
he that Jieareth the word, and understandeth it j 
which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, so vie 
an hundredfold, some sixty, sonie thirty. — Matt. 
xiii. 23. 

Then bless thy secret growth, nor catch 
At noise, but thrive unseen and dumb ; 

Keep clean, bear fruit, earn life, and watch 
Till the white-winged reapers come. 

H. Vaughan. 

"L_TE does not need to transplant us into a dif- 
ferent field, but right where we are, with 
just the circumstances that surround us. He 
makes His sun to shine and His dew to fall upon 
us, and transforms the very things that were be- 
fore our greatest hindrances,, into the chiefest and 
most blessed means of our growth. . . . No diffi- 
culties in your case can baffle Him. Xo dwarf- 
ing of your growth in years that are past, no 
apparent dryness of your inward springs of life, 
no crookedness or deformity in any of your past 
development, can in the least mar the perfect 
work that He will accomplish, if you will only 
put yourselves absolutely into His hands, and let 
Him have His own way with you. 

H. W. S. 

14 



2IO 



July 28. 



But I would not have you to be ignorant^ breth- 
ren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sor- 
row not, eveJi as others which have no hope. — I 
Thess. iv. 13. 

Yet Love will dream, and Faith will trust 
(Since He who knows our need is just), 

That somehow, somewhere, meet we must. 
Alas for him who never sees 
The stars shine through his cypress trees ; 

Who hath not learned in hours of faith, 
The truth to flesh and sense unknown, 

That life is ever Lord of Death, 
And Love can never lose its own. 



HILE we poor wayfarers still toil, with hot 



* " and bleeding feet, along the highway and 
the dust of life, our companions have but 
mounted the divergent path, to explore the 
more sacred streams, and visit the diviner vales, 
and wander amid the everlasting Alps, of God's 
upper province of creation. And so we keep up 
the courage of our hearts, and refresh ourselves 
with the memories of love, and travel forward in 
the ways of duty, with less weary step, feeling 
ever for the hand of God. and listening for the 
domestic voices of the immortals whose happy 
welcome waits us. Death, in short, under the 
Christian aspect, is but God's method of coloni- 
zation ; the transition from this mother-country 
of our race to the fairer and newer world of our 
emigration. 



J. G. Whittier. 




J. Martixeau. 



July 29, 



21 I 



this I say, bret1ire)i, the time is short. — i 
Cor. vii. 29. 

I sometimes feel the thread of life is slender, 
And soon with me the labor will be wrought ; 
Then grows my heart to other hearts more tender. 



H. my dear friends, you who are letting mis- 



erable misunderstandings run on from 
year to year, meaning to clear them up some 
day 1 you who are keeping wretched quarrels 
alive because you cannot quite make up your 
mind that now is the day to sacrifice your pride 
and kill them : you who are passing men sullenly 
upon the street, not speaking to them out of 
some silly spite, and yet knowing that it would 
fill you with shame and remorse if you heard that 
one of those men were dead to-morrow morning ; 
you who are letting your neighbor starve, till you 
hear that he is dying of starvation ; or letting 
your friend's heart ache for a word of apprecia- 
tion or sympathy, which you mean to give him 
some day, — if you only could know and see and 
feel, all of a sudden, that "the time is short,"' 
how it would break the spell ! How you would 
go instantly and do the thing which you might 
TLever have another chance to do. 



The time is short. 



D. M. Craik. 




Phillips Brooks 



212 



July 30. 



Reme7nber not the sins of 'my youth , nor 7ny trans- 
gressions j according to Thy mercy remember Thou 
me, for Thy goodness'* sake, 0 Lord. — Ps. xxv. 7. 



When on my aching, burdened heart 

My sins lie heavily, 
My pardon speak, new peace impart, 

In love remember me. 

T. Haweis 

VX7E need to know that our sins are forgiven. 

And how shall we know this ? By feel- 
ing that we have peace with God, — by feeling 
that we are able so to trust in the divine compas- 
sion and infinite tenderness of our Father, as to 
arise and go to Him, whenever we commit sin, 
and say at once to Him, " Father, I have sinned ; 
forgive me." To know that we are forgiven, it 
is only necessary to look at our Father's love till 
it sinks into our heart, to open our soul to Him 
till He shall pour His love into it ; to wait on 
Him till we find peace, till our conscience no 
longer torments us, till the weight of responsibil- 
ity ceases to be an oppressive burden to us, till 
we can feel that our sins, great as they are, can- 
not keep us away from our Heavenly Father. 

J. F. Clarke, 



July 31. 



213 



/ have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy traits- 
gressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins : return unto Me, 
for I have redeemed thee. — Isa. xliv. 22. 

He will turn again, He will have compassion 
upon us j He will subdue our iniquities ; and 
Thou wilt cast all their sifts into the depths of the 
sea. — Micah vii. 19. 



If my shut eyes should dare their lids to part, 
I know how they must quail beneath the blaze 
Of Thy Love's greatness. No ; I dare not raise 
One prayer, to look aloft, lest it should gaze 
On such forgiveness as would break my heart. 

H. S. Sutton. 

r\ LORD God gracious and merciful, give us, 
I entreat Thee, a humble trust in Thy 
mercy, and suffer not our heart to fail us. 
Though our sins be seven, though our sins be 
seventy times seven, though our sins be more in 
number than the hairs of our head, yet give us 
grace in loving penitence to cast ourselves down 
into the depth of Thy compassion. Let us fall 
into the hand of the Lord. Amen. 

C. G. RossETTi 



214 



August 1. 



Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry ; for anger 
resteth in the bosom of fools. — Eccles. vii. 9. 

Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, — 
Eph. iv. 26. 

Quench thou the fires of hate and strife, 

The wasting fever of the heart ; 
From perils guard our feeble life, 

And to our souls Thy peace impart. 

J. H. Newman, Tr. from Latin. 

VX7HEN thou art offended or annoyed by 
others, suffer not thy thoughts to dwell 
thereon, or on anything relating to them. For 
example, " that they ought not so to have treated 
thee ; who they are, or whom they think them- 
selves to be ; " or the like ; for all this is fuel and 
kindling of wrath, anger, and hatred. 

L. Scupoli. 

Struggle diligently against your impatience, 
and strive to be amiable and gentle, in season 
and out of season, towards every one, however 
much they may vex and annoy you, and be sure 
God will bless your efforts, 

Francis de Sales, 



August 2. 



215 



Behold, God is my salvation ; I will trust, and 
not be afraid : for the Lord Jehovah is 7Jiy strength 
and my song j He also is become my salvation. — • 
ISA. xii. 2. 

Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have 
no faith ? — Mark iv. 40. 



Still heavy is thy heart ? 

Still sink thy spirits down ? 
Cast off the weight, let fear depart, 

And every care be gone. 



O on in all simplicity ; do not be so anxious 



to win a quiet mind, and it will be all the 
quieter. Do not examine so closely into the 
progress of your soul. Do not crave so much to 
be perfect, but let your spiritual life be formed 
by your duties, and by the actions which are 
called forth by circumstances. Do not take over- 
much thought for to-morrow. God, who has 
led you safely on so far, will lead you on to the 
end. Be altogether at rest in the loving holy 
confidence which you ought to have in His 
heavenly Providence. 



P. Gerhardt. 




Francis de Sales 



2l6 



August 3. 



Thou hast 7nade him exceeding glad with Thy 
countenance. — Ps. xxi. 6. 

My heart for gladness springs, 

It cannot more be sad, 
For very joy it laughs and sings, 

Sees nought but sunshine glad. 

P. Gerhardt. 

A NEW day rose upon me. It was as if 



1 another sun had risen into the sky ; the 
heavens were indescribably brighter, and the 
earth fairer \ and that day has gone on brighten- 
ing to the present hour. I have known the 
other joys of life, I suppose, as much as most 
men ; I have known art and beauty, music and 
gladness ; I have known friendship and love and 
family ties ; but it is certain that till we see God 
in the world — God in the bright and boundless 
universe — we never know the highest joy. It 
is far more than if one were translated to a world 
a thousand times fairer than this \ for that 
supreme and central Light of Infinite Love and 
Wisdom, shining over this world and all worlds, 
alone can show us how noble and beautiful, how 
fair and glorious they are. Orville Dewey. 

When I look like this into the blue sky, it 
seems so deep, so peaceful, so full of a mys- 
terious tenderness, that I could lie for centuries 
and wait for the dawning of the face of God out 
of the awful loving-kindness. 




G. MacDonald, 



August 4. 



217 



He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hun- 
gry soul with goodness . — Ps. cvii. 9. 

That ye might be filled with all the fulness of 
God. — Eph. iii. 19. 

Enough that He who made can fill the soul 
Here and hereafter till its deeps o'erflow ; 

Enough that love and tenderness control 
Our fate where'er in joy or doubt we go. 

Anon. 



GOD, the Life of the Faithful, the Bliss of 



the righteous, mercifully receive the prayers 
of Thy suppliants, that the souls which thirst for 
Thy promises may evermore be filled from Thy 
abundance. Amen. 



God makes every common thing serve, if thou 
wilt, to enlarge that capacity of bliss in His love. 
Not a prayer, not an act of faithfulness in your 
calling, not a self-denying or kind word or deed, 
done out of love for Himself; not a weariness 
or painfullness endured patiently ; not a duty 
performed ; not a temptation resisted : but it 
enlarges the whole soul for the endless capacity 
of the love of God. 




Gelasian, a.d. 490, 



E. B. Pusey 



2iS 



August 5. 



O receive the gift that is given you, and be glad, 
giving thanks unto Him that hath called you to the 
heavenly kingdom. — 2 Esdras li. 37. 

Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. — 
2 Cor. ix. 1 5. 

O Giver of each perfect gift ! 
This day our daily bread supply ; 
While from the Spirit's tranquil depths 
We drink unfailing draughts of joy. 



HE best way for a man rightly to enjoy him 



self, is to maintain a universal, ready, and 
cheerful compliance with the divine and uncreated 
Will in all things ; as knowing that nothing can 
issue and flow forth from the fountain of good- 
ness but that which is good ; and therefore a 
good man is never offended with any piece of 
divine dispensation, nor hath he any reluctancy 
against that Will that dictates and determines all 
things by an eternal rule of goodness ; as know- 
ing that there is an unbounded and almighty 
Love, that without any disdain or envy, freely 
communicates itself to everything He made ; 
that always enfolds those in His everlasting arms 
who are made partakers of His own image, per- 
petually nourishing and cherishing them with the 
fresh and vital influences of His grace. 



Lyra Catholic a. 




Dr. John Smith. 



ilUgHSt 6. 



219 



Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all 
His benefits. — Ps. ciii. 2. 

Wiser it were to welcome and make ours 
Whate'er of good, though small, the Present brings, — 
Kind greetings, sunshine, song of birds, and flowers, 
With a child's pure delight in little things. 

R. C. Trench. 

TNTO all our lives, in many simple, familiar, 
homely ways, God infuses this element of 
joy from the surprises of life, which unexpectedly 
brighten our days, and fill our eyes with light. 
He drops this added sweetness into his children's 
cup, and makes it to run over. The success we 
were not counting on, the blessing we were not 
trying after, the strain of music in the midst of 
drudgery, the beautiful morning picture or sun- 
set glory thrown in as we pass to or from our 
daily business, the unsought word of encourage- 
ment or expression of sympathy, the sentence 
that meant for us more than the writer or speaker 
thought, — these and a hundred others that every 
one's experience can supply are instances of what 
I mean. You may call it accident or chance — 
it often is ; you may call it human goodness — 
it often is ; but always, always call it God's love, 
for that is always in it. These are the overflow- 
ing riches of His grace, these are His free gifts. 

S. Longfellow 7 



220 



August 7. 



If thou canst believe, all tilings are possible to 
him that believeth. — Mark ix. 23. 

Nothing shall be impossible unto you. — Matt. 
xvii. 20. 

So nigh is grandeur to our dust, 

So near is God to man, 
When Duty whispers low. Thou must, 

The youth replies, I can. 

R. W. Emerson. 

TT^NOYV that "impossible/ 1 where truth and 
mercy and the everlasting voice of nature 
order, has no place in the brave man's dictionary. 
That when all men have said " Impossible," and 
tumbled noisily elsewhither, and thou alone art 
left, then first thy time and possibility have come. 
Tt is for thee now- ; do thou that, and ask no 
man's counsel, but thy own only and God's. 
Brother, thou hast possibility in thee for much : 
the possibility of writing on the eternal skies the 
record of a heroic life. 

T. Carlyle. 

In the moral world there is nothing impossible, 
if we bring a thorough will to it. Man can do 
everything with himself; but he must not attempt 
to do too much with others. 

Wm, vox Humboldt 



August 8. 



221 



Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith 
Christ hath ?nade us free, and be not entangled 
agai7i with the yoke of bo?idage. — Gal. v. i. 

/ believed, and therefore have I spoken. — 2 Cor. 
iv. 13. 

They are slaves who fear to speak 

For the fallen and the weak ; 

They are slaves who will not choose 

Hatred, scoffing, and abuse, 

Rather than in silence shrink 

From the truth they needs must think ; 

They are slaves who dare not be 

In the right with two or three. 



HE real corrupters of society may be, not 



the corrupt, but those who have held back 
the righteous leaven, the salt that has lost its 
savor, the innocent who have not even the moral 
courage to show what they think of the effrontery 
of impurity, — the serious, who yet timidly suc- 
cumb before some loud-voiced scoffer, — the 
heart trembling all over with religious sensibilities 
that yet suffers itself through false shame to be 
beaten down into outward and practical acqui« 
escence by some rude and worldly nature. 



J. R. Lowell, 




J. H. Thom 



222 



August 9. 



The tlii Jigs which are impossible with ?nen are 
possible with God. — Luke xviii. 27. 

U?iless the Lord had been my help, my soul had 
almost dwelt in silence. — Ps. xciv. 17. 

When obstacles and trials seem 

Like prison-walls to be, 
I do the little I can do, 

And leave the rest to Thee. 

F. W. Faber. 

HP HE mind never puts forth greater power over 



itself than when, in great trials, it yields up 
calmly its desires, affections, interests to God. 
There are seasons when to be still demands im- 
measurably higher strength than to act. Com- 
posure is often the highest result of power. 
Think you it demands no power to calm the 
stormy elements of passion, to moderate the 
vehemence of desire, to throw off the load of 
dejection, to suppress every repining thought, 
when the dearest hopes are withered, and to turn 
the wounded spirit from dangerous reveries and 
wasting grief, to the quiet discharge of ordinary 
duties? Is there no power put forth, when 
a man, stripped of his property, of the fruits of 
a life's labors, quells discontent and gloomy fore- 
bodings, and serenely and patiently returns to the 
tasks which Providence assigns? 




Wm. E. Channing. 



August 10. 



223 



The cup which my Father has given vie, shall 
I not drink it f — John xviii. 11. 

Whatsoever is brought upon thee, take cheerfully. 
— Ecclus. ii. 4. 

Every sorrow, every smart, 
That the Eternal Father's heart 
Hath appointed me of yore, 
Or hath yet for me in store, 
As my life flows on, I '11 take 
Calmly, gladly, for his sake, 
No more faithless murmurs make. 

P. Gerhardt. 

HPHE very least and the very greatest sorrows 
that God ever sutlers to befall thee, proceed 
from the depths of His unspeakable love : and 
such great love were better for thee than the 
highest and best gifts besides that He has given 
thee, or ever could give thee, if thou couldst but 
see it in this light. So that if your little finger 
only aches, if you are cold, if you are hungry or 
thirsty, if others vex you by their words or deeds, 
or whatever happens to you that causes you dis- 
tress or pain, it will all help to fit you for a noble 
and blessed state - 

J. Tauler 



224 



August 1 1 . 



The Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy 
works, and in all that thou ftuttest thine hand 
unto. — Deut. xv. io. 



My place of lowly service, too, 

Beneath Thy sheltering wings I see ; 

For all the work I have to do 

Is done through sheltering rest in Thee. 

A. L. Waring. 



T THINK I find most help in trying to look on 
all interruptions and hindrances to work that 
one has planned out for oneself as discipline, trials 
sent by God to help one against getting selfish 
over one's work. Then one can feel that per- 
haps one's true wx>rk — one's work for God — 
consists in doing some trifling haphazard thing 
that has been thrown into one's day. It is not 
waste of time, as one is tempted to think, it is the 
most important part of the work of the day, — the 
part one can best offer to God. After such a 
hindrance, do not rush after the planned work ; 
trust that the time to finish it will be given some- 
time, and keep a quiet heart about it. 

Annie Keary 



August 12. 



225 



Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life ? 
- — Luke x. 25. 

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
■might. — Eccles. ix. 10. 

" What shall I do to gain eternal life ? " 

" Discharge aright 
The simple dues with which each day is rife, 

Yea, with thy might." 

F. von Schiller, 

MAN is relieved and gay when he has put 
his heart into his work, and done his best ; 
but what he has said or done otherwise, shall 
give him no peace. 

R. W. Emerson. 

Be diligent, after thy power, to do deeds of 
love. Think nothing too little, nothing too low, 
to do lovingly for the sake of God. Bear with 
infirmities, ungentle tempers, contradictions ; 
visit, if thou mayest, the sick \ relieve the poor ; 
forego thyself and thine own ways for love ■ and 
He whom in them thou lovest, to whom in them 
thou ministerest, will own thy love, and will pour 
His own love into thee. 

E. B. Pusey 

*5 



226 



August 13. 



In your patience possess ye your souls. — Luke 
xxi. 19. 

What though thy way be dark, and earth 
With ceaseless care do cark, till mirth 

To thee no sweet strain singeth ; 
Still hide thy life above, and still 
Believe that God is love ; fulfil 



HE soul loses command of itself when it is 



impatient. Whereas, when it submits with- 
out a murmur it possesses itself in peace, and 
possesses God. To be impatient, is to desire 
what we have not, or not to desire what we have. 
When we acquiesce in an evil, it is no longer 
such. Why make a real calamity of it by resist- 
ance? Peace does not dwell in outward things, 
but within the soul. We may preserve it in the 
midst of the bitterest pain, if our will remains 
firm and submissive. Peace in this life springs 
from acquiescence even in disagreeable things, 
not in an exemption from bearing them. 



The chief pang of most trials is not so much 
the actual suffering itself, as our own spirit of 
resistance to it. 



Whatever lot He bringeth. 



Albert E. Evans. 




Fenelon 



Jean Nicolas Grou 



August 14. 227 



/ will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, froi7i 
whence cometh my help. — Ps. cxxi. 1. 

My grace is sufficient for thee. — 2 Cor. xii. 9. 

I look to Thee in every need, 

And never look in vain; 
I feel Thy touch, Eternal Love, 

And all is well again : 
The thought of Thee is mightier far 
Than sin and pain and sorrow are. 

S. Longfellow 

J_£OW can you live sweetly amid the vexatious 
things, the irritating things, the multitude 
of little worries and frets, which lie all along your 
way, and which you cannot evade ? You cannot 
at present change your surroundings. Whatever 
kind of life you are to live, must be lived amid 
precisely the experiences in which you are now 
moving. Here you must win your victories or 
suffer your defeats. No restlessness or discontent 
can change your lot. Others may have other 
circumstances surrounding them, but here are 
yours. You had better make up your mind to 
accept what you cannot alter. You can live 
a beautiful life in the midst of your present 
circumstances. J. r. Miller. 

Strive to realize a state of inward happiness, 
independent of circumstances. 

J. P. Greaves 



228 



August 15. 



God hath not given us the spirit of fear j but oj 
power, ana 7 of 'love \ and of a sound 7nind. — 2 Tim. 
i. 7. 

We cast behind fear, sin, and death ; 

With Thee we seek the things above ; 
Our inmost souls Thy spirit breathe, 

Of power, of calmness, and of love. 

Hymns of the Spirit. 

T MUST conclude with a more delightful sub- 
A ject, — my most dear and blessed sister. 1 
never saw a more perfect instance of the spirit 
of power and of love, and of a sound mind ; 
intense love, almost to the annihilation of selfish- 
ness — a daily martyrdom for twenty years, 
during which she adhered to her early-formed 
resolution of never talking about herself ; thought- 
ful about the very pins and ribands of my wife's 
dress, about the making of a doll's cap for a 
child. — but of herself, save only as regarded 
her ripening in all goodness, wholly thoughtless, 
enjoying everything lovely, graceful, beautiful, 
high-minded, whether in God's works or man's, 
with the keenest relish • inheriting the earth to 
the very fulness of the promise, though never 
leaving her crib, nor changing her posture ; and 
preserved through the very valley of the shadow 
of death, from all fear or impatience, or from 
every cloud of impaired reason, which might mar 
the beauty of Christ's spirit's glorious work. 

Thomas Arnold. 



August 16. 



229 



Whatsoever a man soweih, that shall he also 
reap. — Gal. vi. 7. 



The life above, when this is past, 
Is the ripe fruit of life below. 

Sow love, and taste its fruitage pure ; 

Sow peace, and reap its harvest bright; 
Sow sunbeams on the rock and moor, 

And find a harvest-home of light. 



HE dispositions, affections, inclinations of 



soul, which shall issue hereafter in perfec- 
tion, must be trained and nurtured in us throughout 
the whole course of this earthly life. When shall 
we bear in mind this plain truth, that the future 
perfection of the saints is not a translation from 
one state or disposition of soul into another, 
diverse from the former ; but the carrying out, 
and, as it were, the blossom and the fruitage of 
one and the same principle of spiritual life, which, 
through their whole career on earth, has been 
growing with an even strength, putting itself forth 
in the beginnings and promise of perfection, 
reaching upward with steadfast aspirations after 
perfect holiness ? 



H. Bonar. 




H. E. Manning 



230 



August 17. 



O turii unto me, a?id have mercy upon me ; give 
Thy strength inito Thy servant, and save the son 
of Thy handmaid. — Ps. lxxxvi. 16. 

Thou art my King — 

My King henceforth alone ; 

And I, Thy servant, Lord, am all Thine own. 

Give me Thy strength ; oh ! let Thy dwelling be 

In this poor heart that pants, my Lord, for Thee ! 

G. Tersteegen. 

W 7 HEN it is the one ruling, never-ceasing 
desire of our hearts, that God may be the 
beginning and end, the reason and motive, the 
rule and measure, of our doing or not doing, 
from morning to night ; then everywhere, whether 
speaking or silent, whether inwardly or outwardly 
employed, we are equally offered up to the eter- 
nal Spirit, have our life in Him and from Him, 
and are united to Him by that Spirit of Prayer 
which is the comfort, the support, the strength 
and security of the soul, travelling, by the help of 
God, through the vanity of time into the riches 
of eternity. Let us have no thought or care, but 
how to be wholly His devoted instruments ; 
everywhere, and in everything, His adoring, joyful, 
and thankful servants. 

Wm. Law. 



August 18. 



231 



Beloved, if our heart conde77in us not, then have 
we confidence toward God. — 1 John iii. 21. 



O Lord, how happy is the time 

When in Thy love I rest : 
When from my weariness I climb 

E'en to Thy tender breast. 
The night of sorrow endeth there, 

Thy rays outshine the sun ; 
And in Thy pardon and Thy care 

The heaven of heavens is won. 



OTHING doth so much establish the mind 



amidst the rollings and turbulency of pres- 
ent things, as both a look above them, and a look 
beyond them ; above them to the good and 
steady Hand by which they are ruled, and beyond 
them to the sweet and beautiful end to which, 
by that Hand, they shall be brought. . . . Study 
pure and holy walking, if you would have your 
confidence firm, and have boldness and joy in 
God. You will find that a little sin will shake 
your trust and disturb your peace more than the 
greatest sufferings : yea, in those sufferings, your 
assurance and joy in God will grow and abound 
most if sin be kept out. So much sin as gets in. 
so much peace will go out. 



W. C. Dessler. 




R. Leighton 



232 



August 19. 



Teach me Thy way, O Lord, and lead vie in a 
plain path. — Ps. xxvii. u. 

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, 

Lead Thou me on ; 
The night is dark, and I am far from home, 

Lead Thou me on. 
Keep Thou my feet ; I do not ask to see 
The distant scene ; one step enough for me. 



OD only is holy ; He alone knows how to 



lead His children in the paths of holiness. 
He knows every aspect of your soul, every thought 
of your heart, every secret of your character, its 
difficulties and hindrances ; He knows how to 
mould you tc His will, and lead you onwards to 
perfect sanctifi cation ; He knows exactly how each 
event, each trial, each temptation, will tell upon 
you, and He disposes all things accordingly. 
The consequences of this belief, if fully grasped, 
will influence your whole life. You will seek to 
give yourself up to God more and more unre- 
servedly, asking nothing, refusing nothing, wish- 
ing nothing, but what He wills ; not seeking to 
bring things about for yourself, taking all He 
sends joyfully, and believing the " one step " set 
before you to be enough for you. You will be 
satisfied that even though there are clouds around, 
and your way seems dark, He is directing all, 
and that what seems a hindrance will prove a 
blessing, since He wills it. 



J. H. Newman. 




Jean Nicolas Grou- 



August 20. 



233 



Wait on the Lord : be of good courage, and He 
shall strengthen thine heart : wait, I say, on the 
Lord. — Ps. xxvii. 14, 

He giveth power to the faint ; and to the?n that 
have no might He increaseth strength. — Is A. xl. 29. 

Leaning on Him, make with reverent meekness 

His own thy will, 
And with strength from Him shall thy utter weakness 

Life's task fulfil. 

J. G. Whittier. 

SHOULD we feel at times disheartened and 
discouraged, a confiding thought, a simple 
movement of heart towards God will renew our 
powers. Whatever he may demand of us, he 
will give us at the moment the strength and the 
courage that we need. 

Fenelon, 

We require a certain firmness in all circum- 
stances of life, even the happiest, and perhaps 
contradictions come in order to prove and exer- 
cise this ; and, if we can only determine so to 
use them, the very effort brings back tranquillity 
to the soul, which always enjoys having exercised 
its strength in conformity to duty. 

Wm. von Humboldt. 



234 



August 21. 



We then that are strong ought to bear the infir7?i- 
ities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. — 
Rom. xv. i. 

The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the 
learned, that I should know how to speak a word 
in season to hi?n that is weary. — Is a. 1. 4. 



SK Him to increase your powers of sympa- 



thy : to give you more quickness and depth 
of sympathy, in little things as well as great. 
Opportunities of doing a kindness are often lost 
from mere want of thought. Half a dozen lines 
of kindness may bring sunshine into the whole 
day of some sick person. Think of the pleasure 
you might give to some one who is much shut 
up, and who has fewer pleasures than you have, 
by sharing with her some little comfort or enjoy- 
ment that you have learnt to look upon as a nec- 
essary of life, — the pleasant drive, the new book, 
flowers from the country, etc. Try to put your- 
self in another's place. Ask " What should I like 
myself, if I were hard-worked, or sick, or lonely? " 
Cultivate the habit of sympathy. 



If there be some weaker one, 
Give me strength to help him on ; 
If a blinder soul there be, 
Let me guide him nearer Thee. 



J. G. Whittier. 




G. H. Wilkinson 



August 22. 



235 



/ beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies 
of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, 
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable 
service. — Rom. xii. 1. 



Thou hast my flesh, Thy hallowed shrine, 

Devoted solely to Thy will ; 
Here let Thy light forever shine, 

This house still let Thy presence fill ; 
O Source of Life, live, dwell, and move 
In me, till all my life be love ! 

Joachim Lange. 

TVyf AY it not be a comfort to those of us who 
feel we have not the mental or spiritual 
power that others have, to notice that the liv- 
ing sacrifice mentioned in Rom. xii. 1 is our 
ie bodies"? Of course, that includes the mental 
power, but does it not also include the loving, 
sympathizing glance, the kind, encouraging word, 
the ready errand for another, the work of our 
hands, opportunities for all of which come oftener 
in the day than for the mental power we are 
often tempted to envy ? May we be enabled to 
offer willingly that which we have. 

Anon 



236 



August 23. 



Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them 
not. — Jer. xlv. 5. 

I would not have the restless will 

That hurries to and fro, 
Seeking for some great thing to do, 

Or secret thing to know; 
I would be treated as a child, 

And guided where I go. 

A. L. Waring. 

/^\H ! be little, be little ; and then thou wilt 
be content with little ; and if thou feel, 
now and then, a check or a secret smiting, — 
in that is the Father's love ; be not over-wise, 
nor over-eager, in thy own willing, running, and 
desiring, and thou mayest feel it so ; and by de- 
grees come to the knowledge of thy Guide, who 
will lead thee, step by step, in the path of life, 
and teach thee to follow. Be still, and wait for 
light and strength. 

I. Penington, 

Sink into the sweet and blessed littleness, 
where thou livest by grace alone. Contemplate 
with delight the holiness and goodness in God, 
which thou dost not find in thyself. How lovely 
it is to be nothing when God is all ! 

G. Tersteegen. 



August 24. 



237 



And that which fell among thorns are they, 
which, when they have heard, go forth, and are 
choked with cares, and riches and pleasures of 
this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. — Luke 
viii. 14, 

Preserve me from my calling's snare, 
And hide my simple heart above, 

Above the thorns of choking care, 
The gilded baits of worldly love. 



NYTHING allowed in the heart which is 



contrary to the will of God, let it seem 
ever so insignificant, or be ever so deeply hidden, 
will cause us to fall before our enemies. Any 
root of bitterness cherished towards another, any 
self-seeking, any harsh judgments indulged in, 
any slackness in obeying the voice of the Lord, 
any doubtful habits or surroundings, any one of 
these things will effectually cripple and paralyze 
our spiritual life, I believe our blessed Guide, the 
indwelling Holy Spirit, is always secretly discover- 
ing these things to us by continual little twinges 
and pangs of conscience, so that we are left with- 
out excuse. 



C. Wesley. 




H. W. S 



2 3 8 



August 25. 



See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. — 
Heb. xii. 25. 

From the world of sin and noise 

And hurry I withdraw ; 
For the small and inward voice 

I wait with humble awe ; 
Silent am I now and still, 

Dare not in Thy presence move ; 
To my waiting soul reveal 

The secret of Thy love. 

C. WesleYc 

Y\7HEN therefore the smallest instinct or de- 
sire of thy heart calleth thee towards 
God, and a newness of life, give it time and 
leave to speak ; and take care thou refuse not 
Him that speaketh. ... Be retired, silent, pas- 
sive, and humbly attentive to this new risen 
light within thee. 

Wm. Law. 

It is hardly to be wondered at that he should 
lose the finer consciousness of higher powers and 
deeper feelings, not from any behavior in itself 
wrong, but from the hurry, noise, and tumult in 
the streets of life, that, penetrating too deep into 
the house of life, dazed and stupefied the silent 
and lonely watcher in the chamber of conscience, 
far apart. He had no time to think or feel. 

G. MacDonald. 



August 26. 



Be silent', O all flesh, before the Lord. — Zech 
ii. 13. 

Be earth, with all her scenes, withdrawn ; 

Let noise and vanity be gone : 

In secret silence of the mind, 

My heaven, and there my God, I find. 

I. Watts. 

TT is only with the pious affection of the will 
that we can be spiritually attentive to God. 
As long as the noisy restlessness of the thoughts 
goes on, the gentle and holy desires of the new 
nature are overpowered and inactive. 

J. P. Greaves. 

There is hardly ever a complete silence in our 
soul. God is whispering to us wellnigh inces- 
santly. Whenever the sounds of the world die 
out in the soul, or sink low, then we hear these 
whisperings of God. He is always whispering to 
us, only we do not always hear, because of the 
noise, hurry, and distraction which life causes as 
it rushes on. 

F. W. Faber. 

The prayer of faith is a sincere, sweet, and 
quiet view of divine, eternal truth. The soul 
rests quiet, perceiving and loving God ; sweetly 
rejecting all the imaginations that present them- 
selves, calming the mind in the Divine presence, 
and fixing it only on God. 

Molinos. 



240 



August 27. 



Being confident of this very thing, that He which 
hath begun a good work in you will perform it. — 
Phil. i. 6. 

He that endureth to the end shall be saved. — « 
Matt. x. 22. 

Fill with inviolable peace ; 

Stablish and keep my settled heart ; 
In Thee may all my wanderings cease, 

From Thee no more may I depart : 
Thy utmost goodness called to prove, 
Loved with an everlasting love ! 

C. Wesley. 

TF any sincere Christian cast himself with his 
A whole will upon the Divine Presence which 
dwells within him, he shall be kept safe unto the 
end. What is it that makes us unable to perse- 
vere? Is it want of strength? By no means. 
We have with us the strength of the Holy Spirit. 
When did we ever set ourselves sincerely to any 
work according to the will of God, and fail for 
want of strength ? It was not that strength failed 
the will, but that the will failed first. If we could 
but embrace the Divine will with the whole love 
of ours ; cleaving to it, and holding fast by it, we 
should be borne along as upon " the river of the 
water of life." We open only certain chambers 
of our will to the influence of the Divine will. 
We are afraid of being wholly absorbed into it. 
And yet, if we would have peace, we must be al- 
together united to Him. 

H. E. Manning. 



August 28. 



241 



They that know Thy name will put their trust 
in Thee : for Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them 
that seek Thee. — Ps. ix. 10. 

Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good. — 
Ps. lxxxv. 12. 

In Thee I place my trust, 

On Thee I calmly rest ; 
I know Thee good, I know Thee just, 

And count Thy choice the best, 

H. F. Lyte. 

HPHE souls that would really be richer in duty 
in some new position, are precisely those 
who borrow no excuses from the old one ; who 
even esteem it full of privileges, plenteous in oc- 
casions of good, frequent in divine appeals, which 
they chide their graceless and unloving temper 
for not heeding more. Wretched and barren is 
the discontent that quarrels with its tools instead 
of with its skill; and, by criticising Providence, 
manages to keep up complacency with self. 
How gentle should we be, if we w r ere not pn> 
voked ; how pious, if we were not busy ; the sick 
would be patient, only he is not in health ; the 
obscure would do great things, only he is not 
conspicuous ! 

J. Martineau 

16 



242 



August 29. 



Am I my brother's keeper? — Gen. iv. 9. 



Because I held upon my selfish road, 
And left my brother wounded by the way, 
And called ambition duty, and pressed on — 
O Lord, I do repent. 

Sarah Williams 

JLJOW many are the sufferers who have fallen 
amongst misfortunes along the wayside of 
life ! "By chaiice" we come that way; chance, 
accident, Providence, has thrown them in our 
way ; we see them from a distance, like the 
Priest, or we come upon them suddenly, like the 
Levite ; our business, our pleasure, is interrupted 
by the sight, is troubled by the delay ; what are 
our feelings, what our actions towards them ? . . . 
" Who is thy neighbor?" It is the sufferer, 
wherever, whoever, whatsoever he be. Wher- 
ever thou hearest the cry of distress, wherever 
thou seest any one brought across thy path by 
the chances and changes of life (that is, by the 
Providence of God), whom it is in thy power to 
help, — he, stranger or enemy though he be, — 
he is thy neighbor. 

A. P. Stanley. 



August 30. 



243 



Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are 
called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long- 
suffering, forbeariitg one another in love. — Eph- 
iv. 1, 2. 

Help us, O Lord, with patient love to bear 

Each other's faults, to suffer with true meekness ; 

Help us each other's joys and griefs to share, 
But let us turn to Thee alone in weakness. 



OU should make a special point of asking 



God every morning to give you, before all 
else, that true spirit of meekness which He 
would have His children possess. You must 
also make a firm resolution to practise yourself 
in this virtue, especially in your intercourse with 
those persons to whom you chiefly owe it. You 
must make it your main object to conquer your- 
self in this matter ; call it to mind a hundred 
times during the day, commending your efforts 
to God. It seems to me that no more than this 
is needed in order to subject your soul entirely 
to His will, and then you will become more gen- 
tle day by day, trusting wholly in His goodness. 
You will be very happy, my dearest child, if you 
can do this, for God will dwell in your heart ; and 
where He reigns all is peace. But if you should 
fail, and commit some of your old faults, do not 
be disheartened, but rise up and go on again, as 
though you had not fallen. 



Anon. 




Francis de Sales 



244 



August 31. 



Now therefore keep thy sorrow to thyself and 
bear with a good courage that which hath befallen 
thee. — 2 Esdras x. 15. 



Go, bury thy sorrow, 

The world hath its share ; 
Go, bury it deeply, 

Go, hide it with care. 
Go, bury thy sorrow, 

Let others be blest ; 
Go, give them the sunshine, 

And tell God the rest. 



UR veiled and terrible guest [Trouble] brings 



for us, if we will accept it, the boon of for- 
titude, patience, self-control, wisdom, sympathy, 
faith. If we reject that, then we find in our 
hands the other gift, — cowardice, weakness, is- 
olation, despair. If your trouble seems to have 
in it no other possibility of good, at least set 
yourself to bear it like a man. Let none of its 
weight come on other shoulders. Try to carry 
it so that no one shall even see it. Though 
your heart be sad within, let cheer go out from 
you to others. Meet them with a kindly pres- 
ence, considerate words, helpful acts. 



Anon, 




G. S. Merriam 



September 1. 245 



Let them that suffer according to the will of God 
commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well- 
doing, as unto a faithful Creator. — 1 Peter iv. 19. 

The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. 
— James v. ii. 



On Thy compassion I repose 

In weakness and distress : 
I will not ask for greater ease, 

Lest I should love Thee less. 
Oh, 't is a blessed thing for me 

To need Thy tenderness. 

A. L. Waring 

/^\H, look not at thy pain or sorrow, how great 
soever ; but look from them, look off them, 
look beyond them, to the Deliverer ! whose 
power is over them, and whose loving, wise, and 
tender spirit is able to do thee good by them, 
The Lord lead thee, day by day, in the right 
way, and keep thy mind stayed upon Him, in 
whatever befalls thee ; that the belief of His love 
and hope in His mercy, when thou art at the 
lowest ebb, may keep up thy head above the 
billows. 

Isaac Peningtojs 



246 September 2. 



Blessed are the peacemakers : for they shall be 
called the children of God. — Matt. v. 9. 

Grant us Thy peace, down from Thy presence falling, 
As on the thirsty earth cool night-dews sweet ; 

Grant us Thy peace, to Thy pure paths recalling, 
From devious ways, our worn and wandering feet. 

E. Scudder. 

GOD, who art Peace everlasting, whose 
chosen reward is the gift of peace, and 
who hast taught us that the peacemakers are 
Thy children, pour Thy sweet peace into our 
souls, that everything discordant may utterly 
vanish, and all that makes for peace be sweet 
to us forever. Amen. 

Gelasian, a. d. 492. 

Have you ever thought seriously of the mean- 
ing of that blessing given to the peacemakers? 
People are always expecting to get peace in 
heaven \ but you know whatever peace they get 
there will be ready-made. Whatever making of 
peace they can be blest for, must be on the earth 
here : not the taking of arms against, but the 
building of nests amidst, its " sea of troubles " 
[like the halcyons] . Difficult enough, you think ? 
Perhaps so, but I do not see that any of us try, 
We complain of the want of many things — we 
want votes, we want liberty, we want amusement, 
we want money. Which of us feels or knows that 
he wants peace ? 

J. Ruskin. 



September 3. 



247 



The eyes of all wait upon Thee ; and Thou giv- 
est them their meat in due season. — Ps. cxlv. 15. 

What tune I am afraid, I will trust in Thee. 
— Ps, lvi. 3. 

Late on me, weeping, did this whisper fall : 

" Dear child, there is no need to weep at all ! 

Why go about to grieve and to despair ? 

Why weep now through thy Future's eyes, and bear 

In vain to-day to-morrow's load of care ? " 



HE crosses of the present moment always 



bring their own special grace and conse- 
quent comfort with them ; we see the hand of 
God in them when it is laid upon us. But the 
crosses of anxious foreboding are seen out of the 
dispensation of God ; we see them without grace 
to bear them ; we see them indeed through a 
faithless spirit which banishes grace. So, every- 
thing in them is bitter and unendurable ; all 
seems dark and helpless. Let us throw self 
aside ; no more self-interest, and then God's 
will, unfolding every moment in everything, will 
console us also every moment for all that He 
shall do around us, or within us, for out 
discipline. 



H. S. Sutton. 




F^NELON 



248 September 4. 



His delight is in the law of ihe Lord. And he 
shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, 
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf 
also shall not wither ; and whatsoever he doeth 
shall prosper. — Ps. i. 2, 3. 

The wind that blows can never kill 

The tree God plants ; 
It bloweth east ; it bloweth west ; 
The tender leaves have little rest, 
But any wind that blows is best. 

The tree God plants 
Strikes deeper root, grows higher still, 
Spreads wider boughs, for God's good-will 

Meets all its wants. 

Lillie E. Barr. 

TT is a fatal mistake to suppose that we cannot 
be holy except on the condition of a situation 
and circumstances in life such as shall suit our- 
selves. It is one of the first principles of holi- 
ness to leave our times and our places, our going 
out and our coming in, our wasted and our 
goodly heritage entirely with the Lord. Here, 
O Lord, hast Thou placed us, and we will glo- 
rify Thee here ! 

T. C. Upham. 

It is not by change of circumstances, but by 
fitting our spirits to the circumstances in which 
God has placed us, that we can be reconciled to 
life and duty. 

Fo W. Robertson. 



September 5. 249 



O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me, 
— ISA. xxxviii. 14. 



Being perplexed, I say, 

Lord, make it right ! 
Night is as day to Thee, 

Darkness is light. 
I am afraid to touch 
Things that involve so much ; — 

My trembling hand may shake, 
My skill-less hand may break : 
Thine can make no mistake. 



HE many troubles in your household will 



tend to your edification, if you strive to 
bear them all in gentleness, patience, and kind- 
ness. Keep this ever before you, and remember 
constantly that God's loving eyes are upon you 
amid all these little worries and vexations, watch- 
ing whether you take them as He would desire. 
Offer up all such occasions to Him, and if some- 
times you are put out, and give way to impa= 
tience, do not be discouraged, but make haste to 
regain your lost composure. 



Anna Warner. 




Francis de Sales 



250 



September 6. 



If any ?nan will come after me, let him deny 
himself and take up his cross daily, and follow 
me. — Luke ix. 23. 

There lies thy cross ; beneath it meekly bow; 

It fits thy stature now ; 
Who scornful pass it with averted eye, 

'T will crush them by and by. 

J. Keble. 

r Y y O take up the cross of Christ is no great 
action done once for all ; it consists in the 
continual practice of small duties which are dis- 
tasteful to us. J. H. Newman. 

On one occasion an intimate friend of his was 
fretting somewhat at not being able to put a cross 
on the grave of a relation, because the rest of the 
family disliked it. " Don't you see," he said to 
her, " that by giving up your own way, you will 
be virtually putting a cross on the grave ? You '11 
have it in its effect. The one is but a stone 
cross, the other is a true spiritual cross." 

Life of James Hinton. 

I would have you, one by one, ask yourselves, 
Wherein do I take up the cross daily? 

E. B. Pusey. 

Every morning, receive thine own special 
cross from thfc hands of thy heavenly Father. 

L. Scupoli 



September 7. 



251 



Pure religion and undefiled before God and the 
Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows 
in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted 
from the world. — James i. 27. 



Not to ease and aimless quiet 
Doth that inward answer tend, 

But to works of love and duty 
As our being's end. 

J. G. Whittier. 

TT is surprising how practical duty enriches the 
fancy and the heart, and action clears and 
deepens the affections. Indeed, no one can have 
a true idea of right, until he does it ; any genuine 
reverence for it, till he has done it often and with 
cost ; any peace ineffable in it, till he does it al- 
ways and with alacrity. Does any one complain, 
that the best affections are transient visitors with 
him, and the heavenly spirit a stranger to his 
heart ? Oh. let him not go forth, on any strained 
wing of thought, in distant quest of them ; but 
rather stay at home, and set his house in the 
true order of conscience ; and of their own ac- 
cord the divinest guests will enter. 

J. Martineau 



252 September 8. 



Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with 
thanksgiving. — Col. iv. 2. 

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like 
men. be strong. — 1 Cor. xvi. 13= 

We kneel bow weak, we rise how full of power. 
Why therefore should we do ourselves this wrong, 
Or others — that we are not always strong, 
That we are ever overborne with care, 
That we should ever weak or heartless be, 
Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer, 
And joy and strength and courage are with Thee ? 

R. C. Trench. 

JT is impossible for us to make the duties of our 
lot minister to our sanctincation without a 
habit of devout fellowship with God. This is the 
spring of all our life, and the strength of it. It is 
prayer, meditation, and converse with God. that 
refreshes, restores, and renews the temper of oar 
minds, at all times, under all trials, after all con- 
flicts with the world. By this contact with the 
world unseen we receive continual accesses of 
strength. As our day, so is our strength. With- 
out this healing and refreshing of spirit, duties 
grow to be burdens, the events of life chafe our 
temper, employments lower the tone of our minds 
and we become fretful, irritable, and impatient. 

H. E. Manning. 



September 9. 253 



This is a faithful saying, and these things I will 
that thoii ajftrm constantly, that they which have 
believed hi God might be careful to maintain good 
works. — Titus iii. 8. 

Faith's meanest deed more favor bears 
Where hearts and wills are weighed, 

Than brightest transports, choicest prayers, 
Which bloom their hour and fade. 

J. H. Newman. 

/^YNE secret act of self-denial, one sacrifice of 
inclination to duty, is worth all the mere 
good thoughts, warm feelings, passionate prayers, 
in which idle people indulge themselves. 

J. H. Newman. 

It is impossible for us to live in fellowship with 
God without holiness in all the duties of life. 
These things act and react on each other. With- 
out a diligent and faithful obedience to the calls 
and claims of others upon us. our religious pro- 
fession is simply dead. To disobey conscience 
when it points to relative duties irritates the whole 
temper, and quenches the first beginnings of de- 
votion. We cannot go from strife, breaches, and 
angry words, to God. Selfishness, an imperious 
will, want of sympathy with the sufferings and 
sorrows of other men, neglect of charitable offices, 
suspicions, hard censures of those with whom 
our lot is cast, will miserably darken our own 
hearts, and hide the face of God from us. 

H, E. Manning 



254 September 10. 



Lord, not my feet only, but also 7?iy hands and 
my head. — John xiii. 9. 

Take my hands, and let them move 
At the impulse of Thy love. 

Take my feet, and let them be 
Swift and " beautiful " for Thee. 

Take my intellect, and use 

Every power as Thou shalt choose. 

F. R. Havergal. 

TF a man may attain thereunto, to be unto God 
as his hand is to a man. let him be therewith 
content, and not seek further. That is to say, 
let him strive and wrestle with all his might to 
obey God and His commandments so thoroughly 
at all times, and in all things, that in him there 
be nothing, spiritual or natural, which opposeth 
Gocl ; and that his whole soul and body, with all 
their members, may stand ready and willing for 
that to which God hath created them : as ready 
and willing as his hand is to a man, which is so 
wholly in his power, that in the twinkling of an 
eye, he moveth and turneth it whither he will. 
And when we find it otherwise with us, we must 
give our whole diligence to amend our state. 

Theologia Germanica. 

When the mind thinks nothing, when the soul 
covets nothing, and the body acteth nothing that 
is contrary to the will of God, this is perfect 
sanctification. 

Anonymous, in an old Bible, 1599 



September 11. 255 



Thy kingdom come. — Matt. vi. 10. 

The kingdom of established peace, 

Which can no more remove ; 
The perfect powers of godliness, 

The omnipotence of love. 

C. Wesley 

IV/TY child, thou mayest not measure out thine 
offering unto me by what others have done 
or left undone ; but be it thine to seek out, even 
to the last moment of thine earthly life, what is 
the utmost height of pure devotion to which I 
have called thine own self. Remember that, if 
thou fall short of this, each time thou utterest in 
prayer the words, " Hallowed be Thy name, Thy 
kingdom come," thou dost most fearfully con- 
demn thyself, for is it not a mockery to ask for 
that thou wilt not seek to promote even unto 
the uttermost, within the narrow compass of thine 
own heart and spirit? 

The Divine Master. 

If you do not wish for His kingdom, don't 
pray for it. But if you do, you must do more 
than pray for it ; you must work for it. 

J. Ruskin 



2 5 6 



September 12. 



She obeyed not the voice ; she received not correc- 
tion j she trusted not i7i the Lord; she drew not 
mat to her God. — Zeph. iii. 2. 

Oh ! let us not this thought allow ; 
The heat, the dust upon our brow, 
Signs of the contest, we may wear ; 
Yet thus we shall appear more fair 

In our Almighty Masters eye, 
Than if in fear to lose the bloom, 
Or ruffle the soul's lightest plume, 

We from the strife should fly. 

R. C. Trench. 

TF God requires anything of us. we have no 
right to draw back under the pretext that we 
are liable to commit some fault in obeying. It is 
better to obey imperfectly than not at all. Per- 
haps you ought to rebuke some one dependent 
on you. but you are silent for fear of giving way 
to vehemence ; — or you avoid the society of cer- 
tain persons, because they make you cross and 
impatient. How are you to attain self-control, if 
you shun all occasions of practising it? Is not 
such self-choosing a greater fault than those into 
which you fear to fall ? Aim at a steady mind to 
do right, go wherever duty calls you. and believe 
firmly that God will forgive the faults that take 
our weakness by surprise in spite of our sincere 
desire to please Him. 

Jean Nicolas Grou. 



September 13. 



It is good that a man should both hope and quiet- 
ly wait for the salvation of the Lord. — Lam. iii. 26. 

Truly my soul waiteth upon God : fro7n Him 
cometh my salvation. — Ps. lxii. 1. 



HE true use to be made of all the imper- 



fections of which you are conscious is 
neither to justify, nor to condemn them, but to 
present them before God, conforming your will 
to His, and remaining in peace ; for peace is the 
divine order, in whatever state we may be. 



You will find it less easy to uproot faults, than 
to choke them by gaining virtues. Do not think 
of your faults \ still less of others' faults ; in every 
person who comes near you look for what is good 
and strong : honor that ■ rejoice in it ; and, as 
you can, try to imitate it ■ and your faults will 
drop off, like dead leaves, when their time 
comes. 



Not so in haste, my heart ; 

Have faith in God, and wait ; 
Although He linger long, 

He never comes too late. 



Anon. 




F£nelon. 



J. Ruskin 



11 



258 September 14. 



Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show 
thee great and mighty things which thou know est 
not. — Jer. xxxiii. 3. 

And I have also given thee that which thou hast 
not asked. — 1 Kings iii. 13. 

No voice of prayer to Thee can rise, 
But swift as light Thy Love replies ; 
Not always what we ask, indeed, 
But, O most Kind ! what most we need. 

H. M. Kimball. 

TY you have any trial which seems intolerable, 
pray, — pray that it be relieved or changed. 
There is no harm in that. We may pray for any- 
thing, not wrong in itself, with perfect freedom, 
if we do not pray selfishly. One disabled from 
duty by sickness may pray for health, that he may 
do his work ; or one hemmed in by internal im- 
pediments may pray for utterance, that he may 
serve better the truth and the right. Or, if we 
have a besetting sin, we may pray to be delivered 
from it, in order to serve God and man, and not 
be ourselves Satans to mislead and destroy. But 
the answer to the prayer may be, as it was to 
Paul, not the removal of the thorn, but, instead, a 
growing insight into its meaning and value. The 
voice of God in our soul may show us, as we look 
up to Him, that His strength is enough to enable 
us to bear it. 

J. F. Clarke. 



September 15. 259 



Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be 
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with f 
— Mark x. 38. 

Whate'er my God ordains is right j 

Though I the cup must drink 
That bitter seems to my faint heart, 

I will not fear nor shrink. 

S. Rodigast. 

HP HE worst part of martyrdom is not the last 



A agonizing moment ; it is the wearing, daily 
steadfastness. Men who can make up their minds 
to hold out against the torture of an hour have 
sunk under the weariness and the harass of small 
prolonged vexations. And there are many Chris- 
tians who have the weight of some deep, incom- 
municable grief pressing, cold as ice, upon their 
hearts. To bear that cheerfully and manfully is 
to be a martyr. There is many a Christian be- 
reaved and stricken in the best hopes of life. 
For such a one to say quietly, " Father, not as I 
will, but as Thou wilt," is to be a martyr. There 
is many a Christian who feels the irksomeness of 
the duties of life, and feels his spirit revolting 
from them. To get up every morning with the 
firm resolve to find pleasure in those duties, and 
do them well, and finish the work which God has 
given us to do, that is to drink Christ's cup. 
The humblest occupation has in it materials of 
discipline for the highest heaven. 




F. W. Robertson, 



260 



September 16. 



For the whole world before thee is as a Utile grain 
of the balance, yea, as a drop of the morning dew 
that falleth down upon the earth. But Thou hast 
mercy upon all. For Thou lovest all the things 
that are. — Wisdom of Solomon xi. 22-24. 

Oh ! Source divine, and Life of all, 
The Fount of Being's fearful sea, 

Thy depth would every heart appal, 
That saw not love supreme in Thee. 

J. Sterling. 

"LJIE showed a little thing, the quantity of a 
*- A hazel-nut. lying in the palm of my hand, 
as meseemed, and it was as round as a ball. I 
looked thereon with the eye of my understanding, 
and thought. " What may this be I " and it was 
answered generally thus, " // is all that is made" 
I marvelled how it might last ; for methought it 
might sudden]y have fallen to naught for little- 
ness. And I was answered in my understanding, 
" It lasteth, and ever shall : For God loveth it. 
And so hath all thing being by the love of God-" 
In this little thing I saw three properties. The 
first is, that God made it. The second is, that 
God loveth it. The third is, that God keepeth it. 
For this is the cause which we be not all in ease 
of heart and soul : for we seek here rest in this 
thing which is so little, where no rest is in : and 
we know not our God that is all Mighty, all Wise, 
and all Good, for he is very rest. God wills to be 
known, and it pleaseth Him that we rest us in 
Him. For all that is beneath Him, sufficed! not 
us. Mother Juliana, 1373. 



September 17. 261 



Whosoever will be great among you, shall be 
your minister j and whosoever of you will be the 
chief est, shall be servant of all. For even the Son 
of man ca?ne not to be ministered tmto, but to min- 
ister. — -Mark x. 43-45. 



Set on thy sighing lips, shall make thee glad ; 
A poor man served by thee, shall make thee rich ; 
A sick man helped by thee, shall make thee strong, 
Thou shalt be served thyself by every sense 
Of service which thou renderest. 



ET every man lovingly cast all ins thoughts 



and cares, and his sins too, as it were, on 
the Will of God. Moreover, if a man, while busy 
in this lofty inward work, were called by some 
duty in the Providence of God to cease therefrom, 
and cook a broth for some sick person, or any 
other such service, he should do so willingly and 
with great joy. If I had to forsake such work, 
and go out to preach or aught else, I should go 
cheerfully, believing not only that God would be 
with me, but that he would vouchsafe me it may 
be even greater grace and blessing in that ex= 
ternal work undertaken out of true love in the 
service of my neighbor, than I should perhap? 
receive in my season of loftiest contemplation. 



A child's kiss 



E. B. Browning. 




John Tauler 



202 September IS. 



A 11 the patJis of the Lord are mercy and t?-uth 
unto mch as keep His covenant and His testiino- 
lies. — Ps. xxv. 10. 



Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth, 
Speak peace to my anxious soul, 

And help me to feel that all my ways 
Are under Thy wise control ; 

That He who cares for the lily, 

And heeds the sparrows' fall, 
Shall tenderly lead His loving child; 

For He made and loveth all. 

Anon. 

TT is not by seeking more fertile regions where 
toil is lighter — happier circumstances free 
from difficult complications and troublesome 
people — but by bringing the high courage of a 
devout soul, clear in principle and aim, to bear 
upon what is given to us, that we brighten our 
inward light, lead something of a true life, and 
introduce the kingdom of heaven into the midst 
of our earthly day. If we cannot work out the 
will of God where God has placed us, then why 
has He placed us there ? 

J. H. Thom 



September 19. 263 



Pray for us unto the Lord thy God . . . that 
the Lord thy God may show us the way wherein 
we may walk, and the thing that we may do- 
— Jer. xlii. 2, 3. 

That which L see not, teach Thou me. — Job 
xxxiv. 32. 

0 Father, hear ! 
The way is dark, and I would fain discern 
What steps to take, into which path to turn ; 

Oh ! make it clear. 

Christian Intelligences 

u YX7E can't choose happiness either for our- 
selves or for another ; we can't tell 
where that will lie. We can only choose whether 
we will indulge ourselves in the present moment, 
or whether we will renounce that, for the sake of 
obeying the Divine voice within us. — for the sake 
of being true to all the motives that sanctify our 
lives. I know this belief is hard : it has slipped 
away from me again and again : but I have felt 
that if I let it go forever. I should have no 
light through the darkness of this life." 

George Eliot. 

There was a care on my mind so to pass my 
time, that nothing might hinder me from the 
most steady attention to the voice of the true 
Shepherd. 

John Woolman 



264 



September 20. 



Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy pres- 
ence from the pride of man j Thou shalt keep them 
secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. 
— Ps. xxxi. 20. 



The praying spirit breathe, 

The watching power impart, 
From all entanglements beneath 

Call off my anxious heart. 
My feeble mind sustain, 

By worldly thoughts oppressed ; 
Appear, and bid me turn again 

To my eternal rest. 



S soon as we are with God in faith and in 



If you could once make up your mind in the 
fear of God never to undertake more work of 
any sort than you can carry on calmly, quietly, 
without hurry or flurry, and the instant you feel 
yourself growing nervous and like one out of 
breath, would stop and take breath, you would 
find this simple common-sense rule doing for you 
what no prayers or tears could ever accomplish. 



C. Wesley 




love, we are in prayer. 



Fenelon. 



Elizabeth Prentiss 



September 21. 



Hoiv excellent is Thy loving-kindness \ 0 God / 
therefore the children of men put their trust under 
die shadow of Thy wings, — Ps. xxxvi. 7. 

The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath 
are the everlasting arms. — Deut. xxxiii. 27. 



Within Thy circling arms we lie, 

O God ! in Thy infinity- : 
Our souls in quiet shall abide. 

Beset with love on every side : 

Anon. 

'"T^HE Everlasting Arms/' I think of that 
whenever rest is sweet. How the whole 
earth and the strength of it. that is almightiness, 
is beneath every tired creature to give it rest : 
holding us, always ! Xo thought of God is closer 
than that. Xo human tenderness of patience is 
greater than that which gathers in its arms a 
little child, and holds it, heedless of weariness. 
And He fills the great earth, and all upon it. 
with this unseen force of His love, that never for- 
gets or exhausts itself, so that everywhere we 
may lie down in His bosom, and be comforted. 

A. D. T. Whitney, 



266 



September 22. 



The word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouthy 
and in thy heart, that thou may est do it. — Deut. 
xxx. 14. 

But, above all, the victory is most sure 

For him, who, seeking faith by virtue, strives 

To yield entire obedience to the Law 

Of Conscience ; Conscience reverenced and obeyed, 

As God's most intimate presence in the soul, 

And His most perfect image in the world. 



THAT we call Conscience is the voice of Di- 



vine love in the deep of our being, desir- 
ing union with our will ; and which, by attracting 
the affections inward, invites them to enter into 
the harmonious contentment, and " fulness of 
joy " which attends the being joined by "one 
spirit to the Lord." 



I rejoice, that God has bestowed upon you a 
relish and inclination for the inner life. To be 
called to this precious and lofty life is a great and 
undeserved grace of God, to which we ought to 
respond with great faithfulness. God invites us 
to His fellowship of love, and wishes to prepare 
our spirit to be His own abode and temple. 



W. Wordsworth, 




J. P. Greaves. 



Gerhard Tersteegen 



September 23. 



267 



Show me Thy ways, O Lord ; teach me Thy 
paths. — Ps. xxv. 4. 



When we cannot see our way, 
Let us trust and still obey ; 
He who bids us forward go, 
Cannot fail the way to show. 
Though the sea be deep and wide, 
Though a passage seem denied ; 
Fearless let us still proceed, 
Since the Lord vouchsafes to lead. 



HAT which is often asked of God, is not so 
much His will and way, as His approval of 



There is nothing like the first glance we get 
at duty, before there has been any special plead- 
ing of our affections or inclinations. Duty is 
never uncertain at first. It is only after we have 
got involved in the mazes and sophistries of wish- 
ing that things were otherwise than they are, that 
it seems indistinct. Considering a duty is often 
only explaining it away. Deliberation is often 
only dishonesty. God's guidance is plain, when 
we are true. 



Anon 




our way. 



S. F. Smiley. 



F. W. Robertson 



26S 



September 24. 



When I awake, T am still with Thee. — Ps. 
cxxxix. 1 8. 



Let the glow of love destroy 
Cold obedience faintly given ; 
Wake our hearts to strength and joy 
With the flushing eastern heaven. 
Let us truly rise, ere yet 



ITH his first waking consciousness, he can 



v set himself to take a serious, manly view 
of the day before him. He ought to know pretty 
well on what lines his difficulty is likely to come, 
whether in being irritable, or domineering, or 
sharp in his bargains, or self-absorbed, or what- 
ever it be ; and now, in this quiet hour, he can 
take a good, full look at his enemy, and make up 
his mind to beat him. It is a good time, too, 
for giving his thoughts a range quite beyond him- 
self, — beyond even his own moral struggles, 
— a good time, there in the stillness, for going 
into the realm of other lives. His wife, — what 
needs has she for help, for sympathy, that he 
can meet ? His children, — how can he make 
the day sweeter to them? This acquaintance, 
who is having a hard time ; this friend, who 
dropped a word to you yesterday that you 
hardly noticed in your hurry, but that comes 
up to you now, revealing in him some finer 
trait, some deeper hunger, than you had guessed 
before, — now you can think these things over. 
So you get your day somewhat into right per- 
spective and proportion before you begin it. 



Life be set. 



ROSENROTH. 




G. S. Merriam 



September 25. 



269 



Ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hana 
unto, ye and your households, wherein the Lord thy 
God hath blessed thee. — Deut. xii. 7. 

Sweet is the smile of home ; the mutual look 

When hearts are of each other sure ; 
Sweet all the joys that crowd the household nook, 

The haunts of all affections pure. 

J. Keble. 

TS there any tie which absence has loosened, or 
which the wear and tear of every-day inter- 
course, little uncongenialities, unconfessed mis 
understandings, have fretted into the heart, until 
it bears something of the nature of a fetter? 
Any cup at our home-table whose sweetness we 
have not fully tasted, although it might yet make 
of our daily bread a continual feast? Let us 
reckon up these treasures while they are still ours, 
in thankfulness to God. 

Elizabeth Charles. 

We ought daily or weekly to dedicate a little 
time to the reckoning up of the virtues of our 
belongings, — wife, children, friends, — and con- 
templating them then in a beautiful collection. 
And we should do so now, that we may not par- 
don and love in vain and too late, after the be- 
loved one nas been taken away from us to a 
better world. 

Jean Paul Richter 



September 26. 



Yea, though I walk through the valley of tlu 
shadow of death. I will fear no evil ; for Thou an 
with vie; Thy rod and Thy staff, they eomfo?'t me 
— Ps. xxiii. 4. 



O Will, that wiliest good alone, 

Lead Thou the way, Thou guidest best ; 
A silent child, I follow on, 

And trusting lean upon Thy breast. 
And if in gloom I see Thee not, 

I lean upon Thv love unknown ; 
In me Thv blessed will is wrought, 

If I will nothing of my own. 



'HE devout soul is always safe in every state, 



if it makes everything an occasion either oi 
rising up, or falling down into the hands of God, 
and exercising faith, and trust, and resignation to 
Him. The pious soul, that eyes only God, that 
means nothing but being His alone, can have no 
stop put to its progress ; light and darkness 
equally assist him : in the light he looks up to 
God, in the darkness he lays hold on God, and 
so they both do him the same good. 



Gerhard Tersteegen 




Wm. Law 



September 27. 



271 



When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light 
unto me. — Micah vii. 8. 

There be many that say, Who will show us any 
good? Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy counter 
nance upon us. — Ps. iv. 6. 

How oft a gleam of glory sent 

Straight through the deepest, darkest night, 
Has tilled the soul with heavenly light, 

With holy peace and sweet content. 

Axon 

OUPPOSE you are bewildered and know not 
what is right nor what is true. Can you 
not cease to regard whether you do or not, 
whether you be bewildered, whether you be hap- 
py? Cannot you utterly and perfectly love, and 
rejoice to be in the dark, and gloom-beset, be- 
cause that very thing is the fact of God's Infinite 
Being as it is to you ? Cannot you take this trial 
also into your own heart, and be ignorant, not 
because you are obliged, but because that being 
God's will, it is yours also? Do you not see 
that a person who truly loves is one with the In- 
finite Being — cannot be uncomfortable or un- 
happy? It is that which is that he wills and 
desires and holds best of all to be. To know 
God is utterly to sacrifice self. 

James Hixton 



September 28. 



My little children, let us not love in word, neither 
in tongue ; but in deed, a,7id in truth. — i John 
iii. 18. 

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only 3 
deceiving your own selves. — James i. 22. 

Thrice blest whose lives are faithful prayers, 
Whose loves in higher love endure ; 
What souls possess themselves so pure, 

Or is there blessedness like theirs ? 



ET every creature have your love. Love, 



with its fruits of meekness, patience, and 
humility, is all that we can wish for to ourselves, 
and our fellow-creatures ; for this is to live in 
God, united to Him, both for time and eternity. 
To desire to communicate good to every creature, 
in the degree we can, and it is capable of receiv- 
ing from us, is a divine temper ; for thus God 
stands unchangeably disposed towards the whole 
creation. 



What shall be our reward for loving our neigh- 
bor as ourselves in this life? That, when we 
become angels, we shall be enabled to love him 
better than ourselves. 



A. Tennyson. 




Wm. Law, 



E. Sweden BORa 



September 29. 273 



Blessed are the pure in heart ; for they shall see 
God.— Matt. v. 8. 

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without 
which 110 man shall see the Lord. — Heb. xii. 14. 

Since Thou Thyself dost still display 

Unto the pure in heart, 
Oh, make us children of the day 

To know Thee as Thou art. 
For Thou art light and life and love; 

And Thy redeemed below 
May see Thee as Thy saints above, 

And know Thee as they know. 

J. Montgomery, 

T^OUBT, gloom, impatience, have been ex- 
pelled ; joy has taken their place, the hope 
of heaven and the harmony of a pure heart, the 
triumph of self-mastery, sober thoughts, and a 
contented mind. How can charity towards all 
men fail to follow, being the mere affectionateness 
of innocence and peace ? Thus the Spirit of God 
creates in us the simplicity and warmth of heart 
which children have, nay, rather the perfections 
of His heavenly hosts, high and low being joined 
together in His mysterious work ; for what are 
implicit trust, ardent love, abiding purity, but 
the mind both of little children and of the adoring 
Seraphim ! 

J. H. Newman 

18 



274 



September 30. 



Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? Who 
shall dwell in Thy holy hill . ? He that walketh 
uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh 
the truth in his heart. — Ps. xv. f, 2. 



How happy is he born or taught, 
That serveth not another's will, 

Whose armor is his honest thought, 
And simple truth his utmost skill. 

H. WOTTON. 

TF thou workest at that which is before thee, 
following right reason, seriously, vigorously, 
calmly, without allowing anything else to distract 
thee, but keeping thy divine part pure as if thou 
shouldest be bound to give it back immediately, 
— if thou holdest to this, expecting nothing, fear- 
ing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity 
according to nature, and with heroic truth in 
every word and sound which thou utterest, thou 
wilt live happy. And there is no man who is 
able to prevent this. 

Marcus Antoninus 



October 1. 



275 



Be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the 
Lord, and wo7 r k ; for I am with you. saith the Lord 
of hosts. — Haggai ii. 4. 

Yet the World is Thy field, Thy garden; 
On earth art Thou still at home. 
When Thou bendest hither Thy hallowing eye, 
My narrow work-room seems vast and high, 
Its dingy ceiling a rainbow-dome, — 
Stand ever thus at my wide-swung door, 



HE situation that has not its duty, its ideal, 



was never yet occupied by man. Yes, 
here, in this poor, miserable, hampered, despica- 
ble Actual, wherein thou even now standest, here 
or nowhere is thy Ideal : work it out therefrom ; 
and working, believe, live, be free. Fool ! the 
Ideal is in thyself, the impediment too is in 
thyself : thy condition is but the stuff thou art 
to shape that same Ideal out of : what matters 
whether such stuff be of this sort or that, so the 
form thou givest it be heroic, be poetic. O thou 
that pinest in the imprisonment of the Actual, 
and criest bitterly to the gods for a kingdom 
wherein to rule and create, know this of a truth : 
the thing thou seekest is already with thee, " here 
or nowhere," couldst thou only see ! 



And toil will be toil no more. 



L. Larcoivl 




T. Carlyle 



2j6 



October 2. 



/ am purposed that my mouth shall not trans- 
gress. — Ps. xvii. 3. 

In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin . 
but he that refraineth his lips is wise. — Prov, 
x. 19. 

Prune thou thy words ; the thoughts control 

That o'er thee swell and throng ; 
They will condense within thy soul, 

And change to purpose strong. 

J. H. Newman, 

UEW men suspect how much mere talk fritters 
away spiritual energy, — that which should 
be spent in action, spends itself in words. Hence 
he who restrains that love of talk, lays up a fund 
of spiritual strength. 

F. W. Robertson. 

Do not flatter yourself that your thoughts are 
under due control, your desires properly regulated, 
or your dispositions subject as they should be to 
Christian principle, if your intercourse with others 
consists mainly of frivolous gossip, impertinent 
anecdotes, speculations on the character and 
affairs of your neighbors, the lepetition of former 
conversations, or a discussion of the current petty 
scandal of society ; much less, if you allow your- 
self in careless exaggeration on all these points, 
and that grievous inattention to exact truth, which 
is apt to attend the statements of those whose 
conversation is made up of these materials. 

H. Ware, Jr 



October 3. 



Judge not, that ye be not judged. — Matt. vii. i. 

Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy 
brothers eye j but perceivest not the beam that is 
in thine own eye ? — Luke vi. 41 . 

Judge not ; the workings of his brain 
And of his heart thou canst not see ; 

What looks to thy dim eyes a stain, 
In God's pure light may only be 

A scar, brought from some well-won field, 

Where thou wouldst only faint and yield. 

Adelaide A. Procter. 

VX 7HEN you behold an aspect for whose con- 
stant gloom and frown you cannot ac- 
count, whose unvarying cloud exasperates you by 
its apparent causelessness, be sure that there is 
a canker somewhere, and a canker not the less 
deeply corroding because concealed. 

Charlotte Bronte. 

While we are coldly discussing a man's career, 
sneering at his mistakes, blaming his rashness,, 
and labelling his opinions — " Evangelical and 
narrow," or " Latitudinarian and Pantheistic," 
or " Anglican and supercilious ; ' — that man, ir 
his solitude, is perhaps shedding hot tears because 
his sacrifice is a hard one, because strength anr 
patience are failing him to speak the difficu] 1 
vord, and do the difficult deed. 

George Eliot 



2;3 



October 4. 



Be strong, and of a good courage ; be not afraid, 
neither be thou dismayed : for the Lord thy God is 
with thee whithersoever thou goest. — Josh. i. 9, 

By Thine unerring Spirit led, 
We shall not in the desert stray; 

We shall not full direction need, 
Nor miss our providential way ; 

As far from danger as from fear, 

While love, almighty love, is near. 

Charles Wesley. 

YX7ATCH your way then, as a cautious trav- 
eller ; and don't be gazing at that moun- 
tain or river in the distance, and saying, " How 
shall I ever get over them?" but keep to the 
present little inch that is before you, and accom- 
plish that in the little moment that belongs to it. 
The mountain and the river can only be passed 
in the same way ; and, when you come to them, 
you will come to the light and strength that 
belong to them. 

M. A. Kelty. 

Let not future things disturb thee, for thou 
wilt come to them, if it shall be necessary, hav- 
ing with thee the same reason which thou now 
usest for present, things, 

Marcus Antoninus, 



October 5. 



279 



Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Ba 
strong* fear not. — Isa. xxxv. 4. 



Why shouldst thou fill to-day with sorrow 
About to-morrow, 
My heart ? 
One watches all with care most true, 
Doubt not that He will give thee too 



HE crosses which we make for ourselves by 



a restless anxiety as to the future, are not 
crosses which come from God. We show want 
of faith in Him by our false wisdom, wishing to 
forestall His arrangements, and struggling to sup- 
plement His Providence by our own providence. 
The future is not yet ours ; perhaps it never will 
be. If it comes, it may come wholly different 
from what we have foreseen. Let us shut our 
eyes, then, to that which God hides from us, and 
keeps in reserve in the treasures of His deep 
counsels. Let us worship without seeing ; let us 
be silent ; let us abide in peace. 



Thy part. 



Paul Flemming. 




Fexelon 



2SO 



October 6. 



I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the 
goodness of the Lord i?i the land of the living* 
— Ps. xxvii. 13. 

/ will surely do thee good. — Gen, xxxii. 12. 

Thou know'st not what is good for thee, 

But God doth know. — 
Let Him thy strong reliance be, 

And rest thee so. 



ET us be very careful of thinking, on the one 



hand, that we have no work assigned us to 
do. on on the other hand, that what we have as- 
signed to us is not the right thing for us. If ever 
Ave can say in our hearts to God, in reference to 
any daily duty, " This is not my place : I would 
choose something dearer ; I am capable of 
something higher;'' we are guilty not only of 
rebellion, but of blasphemy. It is equivalent to 
saying, not only, " My heart revolts against Thy 
commands." but "Thy commands are unwise; 
Thine Almighty guidance is unskilful ; Thine 
omniscient eye has mistaken the capacities of 
Thy creature ; Thine infinite love is indifferent 
to the welfare of Thy child." 



C F. Gellert. 




Elizabeth Charles 



October 7, 



281 



And because ye are sons, God hath sent the spirit 
of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba^ Father- 
— Gal, iv. 6. 

O Lord, forgive my sin, 

And deign to put within 
A calm, obedient heart, a patient mind \ 

That I may murmur not. 

Though bitter seem my lot - 
For hearts unthankful can no blessing find. 



ESIGXATIOX to the Divine Will signifies a 



cheerful approbation and thankful accept- 
ance of everything that comes from God. It is 
not enough patiently to submit^ but we must 
thankfully receive and fully approve of every- 
thing that, by the order of God's providence, 
happens to us. For there is no reason why we 
should be patient, but what is as good and as 
strong a reason why we should be thankful. When- 
ever, therefore, you find yourself disposed to un- 
easiness or murmuring at any thing that is the 
effect of God's providence over you. you must 
look upon yourself as denying either the wisdom 
or goodness of God. 



RUTILIUS, 1604 




Wm. Law 



282 



October 8. 



Ye shall not go out with haste, for the Lord will 
go before you ; and the God of Israel will be your 
rereward. — Is A. lii. 12. 

He that believe th shall not make haste. — Is A. 
xxviii. 16. 

Holy Spirit, Peace divine ! 
Still this restless heart of mina ; 
Speak to calm this tossing sea, 
Stayed in Thy tranquillity. 

S. Longfellow. 

TN whatever you are called upon to do, en- 
deavor to maintain a calm, collected, and 
prayerful state of mind. Self-recollection is of 
great importance. " It is good for a man to 
quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." 
He who is in what may be called a spiritual 
hurry, or rather who runs without having evidence 
of being spiritually sent, makes haste to no 
purpose. T. C. Upham. 

There is great fret and worry in- always run- 
ning after work ; it is not good intellectually or 
spiritually. 

Annie Keary. 

Whenever we are outwardly excited we should 
cease to act ; but whenever we have a message 
from the spirit within, we should execute it with 
calmness, A fine day may excite one to act. 
but it is much better that we act from the calm 
spirit in any day, be the outward what it may. 

J. P. Greaves 



October 9. 



283 



As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, 
— Josh. xxiv. 15. 

O happy house ! and happy servitude ! 

Where all alike one Master own; 
Where daily duty, in Thy strength pursued, 

Is never hard or toilsome known ; 
Where each one serves Thee, meek and lowly. 

Whatever Thine appointment be. 
Till common tasks seem great and holy, 

When they are done as unto Thee. 



T Dudson there was no rushing after anything, 



either worldly or intellectual. It was a 
home of constant activity, issuing from, and 
retiring *o, a centre of deep repose. There was 
an earnest application of excellent sense to the 
daily duties of life, to the minutest courtesy and 
kindness, as well as to the real interests of others. 
Everything great and everything little seemed 
done in the same spirit, and with the same degree 
of fidelity, because it was the will of God ; and 
that whi( 1 could not be traced to His will was 
not undertaken at all. . . . Nothing at Dudson 
was esteemed too little to be cared for, and 
nothing too great to be undertaken at the com- 
mand of God ; and for this they daily exercised 
their mental and bodily powers on the things 
around them ; knowing that our Lord thoroughly 
furnishes each of His soldiers for his work, and 
places before each the task he has to do. 



C. J. P. Spitta, 




M. A. SCHIMMELPENNINCK 



October 10. 



Now the Lord of peace Hi??iself give you peace 
always, by all means. — 2 Thess. iii. 16. 

The Lo?'d will give strength u?ito His people ; thu 
Lord will bless His people with peace. — Ps. xxix, 
1 1. 

In the heart's depths a peace serene and holy 
Abides, and when pain seems to have its will, 

Or we despair, — oh, may that peace rise slowly, 
Stronger than agony, and we be still. 

S. Johnson. 

gUT if a man ought and is willing to lie still 
under God's hand, he must and ought also 
to lie still under all things, whether they come 
from God, himself, or the creatures, nothing 
excepted. And he who would be obedient, 
resigned, and submissive to God, must and ought 
to be also resigned, obedient, and submissive to 
all things, in a spirit of yielding, and not of 
resistance ; and take them in silence, resting 
on the hidden foundations of his soul, and having 
a secret inward patience, that enableth him to 
take all chances or crosses willingly ; and, what- 
ever befalleth. neither to call for nor desire 
any redress, or deliverance, or resistance, or 
revenge, but always in a loving, sincere humility 
to cry, " Father, forgive them, for they know not 
what they do ! " 

Theologia Germanica. 



October 11. 



And when the people complained, it displeased the 
Lord. — Num. xi. i. 



ET him, with a cheerful and thankful spirit, 



yield himself up to suffer whatever God 
shall appoint unto him, and to fulfil, according to 
his power, by the grace of God, all His holy will 
to the utmost that he can discern it, and never 
complain of his distresses but to God alone with 
entire and humble resignation, praying that he 
may be strong to endure all his sufferings accord- 
ing to the will of God. 



He who complains, or thinks he has a right to 
complain, because he is called in God's Provi- 
dence to suffer, has something within him which 
needs to be taken away. A soul whose will is 
lost in God's will, can never do this. Sorrow 
may exist ; but complaint never. 



When thou hast thanked thy God 



For every blessing sent, 
What time will then remain 
For murmurs or lament ? 



R. C. Trench. 




John Tauler, 



Catherine Adorna 



286 



October 12. 



Singing and making ?nelody in yon?' heart to the 
Lord. — Eph. v. 19. 

Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, — 1 Pe- 
ter iii. 15. 

There are in this loud stunning tide 

Of human care and crime, 
With whom the melodies abide 

Of th' everlasting chime ; 
Who carry music in their heart 
Through dusky lane and wrangling mart, 
Plying their daily task with busier feet, 
Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat. 

J. Keble. 

OTRIVE to carry thyself with a total resigna- 
tion to the Divine Will, that God may do 
with thee and all thine according to His heavenly 
pleasure, relying on Him as on a kind and loving 
Father. Never recall that intention, and though 
thou beest taken up about the affairs of the con- 
dition wherein God hath placed thee, yet thou 
wilt still be in prayer, in the presence of God, 
and in perpetual acts of resignation. " A just 
man leaves not off to pray unless he leaves off to 
be just." He always prays who always does well. 
The good desire is prayer, and if the desire be 
continued so also is the prayer. 

M. Molinos 



October 13. 



287 



We desire that every one of you do show the same 
diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end. 
— Heb. vi. it. 

The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you^ and 
keep you from evil. — 2 Thess. iii. 3. 

Long though my task may be, 

Cometh the end. 
God 't is that helpeth me, 
His is the work, and He 

New strength will lend. 

Anon. 

OET yourself steadfastly to tnose duties which 
have the least attractive exterior ; it matters 
not whether God's holy will be fulfilled in great 
or small matters. Be patient with yourself and 
your own failings ; never be in a hurry, and do 
not yield to longings after that which is impossi- 
ble to you. My dear sister, go on steadily and 
quietly ; if our dear Lord means you to run, He 
will " strengthen your heart." 

Francis de Sales. 

Always begin by doing that which costs me 
most, unless the easier duty is a pressing one, 
Examine, classify, and determine at night the 
work of the morrow ; arrange things in the order 
of their importance, and act accordingly. Dread, 
above all things, bitterness and irritation. Never 
say, or indirectly recall anything to my advantage. 

Madame Swetchine. 



2SS 



October 14. 



He that sinneth against Me wrongeth his own 
soul: all they that hate Me love death. — Prov. 
viii. 36. 

But now being made free from sin. and become 
servants to God, ye have your fruit unto hoi in ess, 
find the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin 
is death ; but the gift of God is eternal life through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. — Rom. vi. 22, 23. 

O Sovereign Love, to Thee I cry ! 
Give me Thyself, or else I die ! 
Save me from death ; from hell set free ! 
Death, hell, are but the want of Thee. 
Quickened by Thv imparted flame, 
Saved when possessed of Thee, I am * 
My life, my onlv heaven Thou art ; 
O might I feel Thee in my heart ! 

C. Wesley 

^IX itself is hell, and death, and misery to the 
soul, as being a departure from goodness 
and holiness itself ; I mean from God, in con- 
junction with whom the happiness, and blessed- 
ness, and heaven of a soul doth consist. Avoid 
it, therefore, as you would avoid being miserable, 

Samuel Shaw. 

" I could n't live in peace if I put the shadow 
of a wilful sin between myself and God." 

George Eliot. 

Unholy tempers are always unhappy tempers. 

John Wesley 



October 15. 



289 



Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that 
I am not able to look up j therefore my heart faileth 
me. Be pleased, 0 Lord, to deliver me j 0 Lord, 
make haste to help me. — Ps. xl. 12, 13. 

Sin shall not have dominion over you. — = Rom 
vi. 14. 

O Thou, to whose all-searching sight 
The darkness shineth as the light ! 
Search, prove my heart ; it pants for Thee : 
Oh, burst these bonds, and set it free ! 



ES, this sin which has sent me weary-hearted 



to bed and desperate in heart to morn- 
ing work, that has made my plans miscarry until 
I am a coward, that cuts me off from prayer, that 
robs the sky of blueness and the earth of spring- 
time, and the air of freshness, and human faces 
of friendliness, — this blasting sin which perhaps 
has made my bed in hell for me so long, — this 
can be conquered. I do not say annihilated, but, 
better than that, conquered, captured and trans- 
figured into a friend : so that I at last shall say, 
" My temptation has become my strength ! for 
to the very fight with it I owe my force." 



G. TersteeoEn. 




W. C. Gannett 



2 go 



October 16. 



/ am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, 
and of all the truth* which Thou hast showed unto 
Thy servant. — Gex. xxxii. 10. 

Some murmur if their skv is clear, 

And wholly bright to view, 
If one small speck of dark appear 

In their great heaven of blue : 
And some with thankful love are filled, 

If but one streak of light, 
One ray of God's good mercy, gild 

The darkness of their night. 

R. C. Trench. 

LTABITUAL sufferers are precisely those who 
least frequently doubt the Divine benevo- 
lence, and whose faith and love rise to the seren 
est cheerfulness. Possessed by no idea of a 
prescriptive right to be happy, their blessings are 
not benumbed by anticipation, but come to them 
fresh and brilliant as the first day's morning and 
evening light to the dwellers in Paradise. With 
the happy it is their constant peace that seems 
to come by nature, and to be blunted by its com- 
monness, — and their griefs to come from God, 
sharpened by their sacred origin : with the 
sufferer, it is his pain that appears to be a thing 
of course, and to require no explanation, while 
his relief is reverently welcomed as a divine in- 
terposition, and. as a breath of Heaven, caresses 
the heart into melodies of praise. 

J. Martineau 



October 17. 



291 



Hath the Lord as great delight i?i burnt- offerings 
and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord ? 
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. — 1 Sam. 
xv. 22. 

Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of 
the Lord, which He will show to you to-day, 
— Ex. xiv. 13. 

The folded hands seem idle : 

If folded at His word, 
'T is a holy service, trust me, 

In obedience to the Lord. 

Anna Shipton. 

TT is not the multitude of hard duties, it is not 
constraint and contention that advance us 
in our Christian course. On the contrary, it is 
the yielding of our wills without restriction and 
without choice, to tread cheerfully every day in 
the path in which Providence leads us, to seek 
nothing, to be discouraged by nothing, to see 
our duty in the present moment, to trust all else 
without reserve to the will and power of God. 

Fenelon, 

Godliness is the devotion of the soul to God, 
as to a living person whose will is to be its law, 
whose love is to be its life. It is the habit of 
living before the face of God, and not the simply 
doing certain things. 

J. B. Brown 



292 



October 18. 



Except your righteousness shall exceed the right- 
eousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in 
no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. — Matt. 
v. 20. 



The freedom from all wilful sin, 
The Christian's daily task, — 

Oh these are graces far below 
What longing love would ask ! 

Dole not thy duties out to God. 



OU perhaps will say that all people fall short 



of the perfection of the Gospel, and there- 
fore you are content with your failings. But 
this is saying nothing to the purpose : for the 
question is not whether Gospel perfection can 
be fully attained, but whether you come as near 
it as a sincere intention and careful diligence can 
carry you. Whether you are not in a much 
lower state than you might be if you sincerely in- 
tended and carefully labored to advance your- 
self in all Christian virtues. 



We know not exactly how low the least degree 
of obedience is, which will bring a man to 
heaven ; but this we are quite sure of, that he 
who aims no higher will be sure to fall short even 
of that, and that he who goes farthest beyond 
it will be most blessed. 



F. W. Faber. 




Wm. Law. 



John Keble 



October 19. 



293 



Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy 
One of Israel j I a?n the Lord thy God which 
teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the 
way thou shouldest go. — Isa. xlviif. 17. 

I seek Thy aid, I ask direction, 

Teach me to do what pleaseth Thee ; 

I can bear toil, endure affliction, 
Only Thy leadings let me see. 

Anon. 

/^F all paths a man could strike into, there is, 
at any given moment, a best path for every 
man ; a thing which, here and now, it were of 
all things wisest for him to do; which could he 
but be led or driven to do, he were then doing 
" like a mail," as we phrase it. His success, in 
such case, were complete, his felicity a maximum. 
This path, to find this path, and walk in it, is the 
one thing needful for him. 

T. Carlyle. 

Every man has his own vocation. There is 
one direction in which all space is open to him. 
He has faculties silently inviting him thither to 
endless exertion. He is like a ship in a river ; 
he runs against obstructions on every side but 
one ; on that side all obstruction is taken away, 
and he sweeps serenely over a deepening chan- 
nel into an infinite sea. 

R. W. Emerson. 



October 20. 



Be not overcome of eviL but overcome evil with 
good. — Rom. xii. 21. 



Come, in this accepted hour ; 

Bring Thy heavenly kingdom in ; 
Fill us with Thy glorious power, 

Rooting out the seeds of sin. 

C. Wesley. 

T F we wish to overcome evil, we must overcome 
it by good. There are doubtless many w T ays 
of overcoming the evil in our own hearts, but the 
simplest, easiest, most universal, is to overcome 
it by active occupation in some good word or 
work. The best antidote against evil of all kinds, 
against the evil thoughts which haunt the soul, 
against the needless perplexities which distract 
the conscience, is to keep hold of the good we 
have. Impure thoughts will not stand against 
pure words, and prayers, and deeds. Little 
doubts will not avail against great certainties. 
Fix your affections on things above, and then 
you will be less and less troubled by the cares, 
the temptations, the troubles of things on earth. 

A. P. Stanley 



October 21. 



295 



/ am the Almighty God; walk before 7ne, and 
be thou perfect. — Gen. xvii. I. 

Consecrate yourselves to-day to the Lord. — ■ Ex. 
xxxii. 29. 

Take my life, and let it be 
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee. 

Take my moments and my days ; 
Let them flow in ceaseless praise. 

F. R. Havergal, 

T HAVE noticed that wherever there has been 
a faithful following of the Lord in a con- 
secrated soul, several things have inevitably 
followed, sooner or later. Meekness and quiet- 
ness of spirit become in time the characteristics 
of the daily life. A submissive acceptance of the 
will of God as it comes in the hourly events of 
each day ; pliability in the hands of God to do 
or to suffer all the good pleasure of his will ; 
sweetness under provocation ; calmness in the 
midst of turmoil and bustle ; yieldingness to the 
wishes of others, and an insensibility to slights 
and affronts ; absence of worry or anxiety ; 
deliverance from care and fear ; — all these, and 
many similar graces, are invariably found to be 
the natural outward development of that inward 
life which is hid with Christ in God. 

H. W. S 



296 



October 22. 



Father^ if Thou be willing, remove t/iis cup from 
me ; nevertheless, not my will, but Thine, be done. 
— Luke xxii. 42. 

Just as Thou wilt is just what I would will; 

Give me but this, the heart to be content, 

And, if my wish is thwarted, to lie still, 

Waiting till puzzle and till pain are spent, 

And the sweet thing made plain which the Lord meant. 



ET your will be one with His will, and be 



glad to be disposed of by Him. He will 
order all things for you. What can cross your 
will, when it is one with His will, on which all 
creation hangs, round which all things revolve ? 
Keep your hearts clear of evil thoughts ; for as 
evil choices estrange the will from His will, so 
evil thoughts cloud the soul, and hide Him from 
Irs. Whatever sets us in opposition to Him 
makes our will an intolerable torment. So long 
as we will one thing and He another, we go on 
piercing ourselves through and through with a 
perpetual wound ; and His will advances moving 
on in sanctity and majesty, crushing ours into 
the dust. 



Susan Coolidge. 




H. E. Manning. 



October 23. 



297 



Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God : 
Thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of up- 
rightness. — Ps. cxliii. 10. 

The battle of our life is won, 

And heaven begun, 
When we can say, " Thy will be done ! " 
But, Lord, until 
These restless hearts in Thy deep love are still, 
We pray Thee, " Teach us how to do Thy will ! ' 5 



'OUare seeking your own will, my daughter. 



x You are seeking some good other than the 
law you are bound to obey. But how will 
you find good? It is not a thing of choice ; it 
is a river that flows from the foot of the Invisible 
Throne, and flows by the path of obedience, 
I say again, man cannot choose his duties. 
You may choose to forsake your duties, and 
choose not to have the sorrow they bring. But 
you will go forth, and what will you find, my 
daughter ? Sorrow without duty — bitter herbs, 
and no bread with them." 



However dark and profitless, however painful 
and weary, existence may have become ; how- 
ever any man, like Elijah, may be tempted to 
cast himself down beneath the juniper-tree, and 
say, " It is enough, O Lord ! " — life is not done, 
and our Christian character is not won, so long 
as God has anything left for us to suffer, or any- 
thing left for us to do. 



Lucy Larcom. 




George Eliot. 



F. W. Robertson* 



298 



October 24. 



The Lord is my strength, and my shield j my 
heart trusted in Him, and I am helped : therefore 
my heart greatly rejoiceth j and with my song will 
I praise Him. — Ps. xxviii. 7. 

Well may Thy happy children cease 
From restless wishes, prone to sin, 

And, in Thy own exceeding peace, 
Yield to Thy daily discipline. 

A. L. Waring. 

'TWLK of hair-cloth shirts, and scourgings, and 
sleeping on ashes, as means of saintship ! 
there is no need of them in our country. Let 
a woman once look at her domestic trials as 
her hair-cloth, her ashes, her scourges, — accept 
them, — rejoice in them, — smile and be quiet, 
silent, patient, and loving under them, — and the 
convent can teach her no more ; she is a vic- 
torious saint. 

H. B. Stow t e. 

Perhaps it is a greater energy of Divine Provi- 
dence, which keeps the Christian from day to 
day, from year to year — praying, hoping, run- 
ning, believing — against all hindrances — which 
maintains him as a living martyr, than that which 
bears him up for an hour in sacrificing himself at 
the stake. 

R. Cecil- 



October 25. 



299 



For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, 
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor 
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to sepa,- 
rate us from the love of God, which is in Christ 
Jesus our Lord. — Rom. viii. 38, 39. 



I know not what the future hath 

Of marvel or surprise, 
Assured alone that life and death 

His mercy underlies. 

J. G. Whittier. 

T3 E of good faith, my dear Friends, look not out 
at any thing ; fear none of those things ye 
may be exposed to suffer, either outwardly or in- 
wardly ; but trust the Lord over all, and your life 
will spring, and grow, and refresh you, and ye 
will learn obedience and faithfulness daily more 
and more, even by your exercises and sufferings ; 
yea, the Lord will teach you the very mystery of 
faith and obedience ; the wisdom, power, love, 
and goodness of the Lord ordering every thing 
for you, and ordering your hearts in every thing. 

I. Penington. 



300 



October 26. 



Turn ye to the stronghold, ye priso7icrs of hope. 
— Zfxh. ix. 12. 

Their strength is to sit still. — Isa. xxx. 7. 

O power to do ; O baffled will ! 

O prayer and action ! ye are one. 
Who may not strive, may yet fulfil 
The harder task of standing still, 

And good but wished with God is done. 

J. G. Whittier. 

r I ^HAT God has circumscribed our life may 



add a peculiar element of trial, but often 
it defines our way and cuts off many tempting 
possibilities that perplex the free and the strong ; 
whilst it leaves intact the whole body of spiritual 
reality, with the Beatitude thereon, " that if we 
know these things, happy are we if we do them." 
We know that God orders the lot ; and to meet 
it with the energies it requires and permits, neither 
more nor less, — to fill it at every available point 
with the light and action of an earnest and spirit- 
ually inventive mind, though its scene be no wider 
than a sick chamber, and its action narrowed to 
patient suffering, and gentle, cheerful words, and 
all the light it can emit the thankful quiet of a 
trustful eye, — without chafing as though God 
had misjudged our sphere, and placed us wrong, 
and did not know where we could best serve 
Him, — this is what, in that condition, we have 
to do. 




J. H. Thom. 



October 27. 



Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in re- 
proaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses 
for Chris fs sake : for when I am weak, then am I 
strong. — 2 Cor. xii. 10. 

Whate'er God does is well ! 

In patience let us wait ; 

He doth Himself our burdens bear, 

He doth for us take care, 
And He, our God, knows all our weary days. 

Come, give Him praise. 

B. Schmolck. 

^TOTHING else but this seeing God in every- 
thing will make us loving and patient with 
those who annoy and trouble us. They will be 
to us then only the instruments for accomplishing 
His tender and wise purposes towards us, and we 
shall even find ourselves at last inwardly thanking 
them for the blessings they bring us. Nothing 
else will completely put an end to all murmuring 
or rebelling thoughts. 

H. W. S. 

The subjection of the will is accomplished by 
calmly resigning thyself up in everything that in- 
ternally or externally vexes thee ; for it is thus 
only that the soul is prepared for the reception of 
divine influences. Prepare the heart like clean 
paper, and the Divine Wisdom will imprint on it 
characters to His own liking. 

M. Molinos. 



302 



October 28. 



/ know the thoughts that I think toward you, 
saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, 
to give you an expected end, — Jer. xxix. n. 

Thy thoughts are good, and Thou art kind, 

E'en when we think it not ; 
How many an anxious, faithless mind 

Sits grieving o'er its lot, 
And frets, and pines by day and night, 
As God had lost it out of sight, 

And all its wants forgot. 



OU are never to complain of your birth, your 



training, your employments, your hard- 
ships ; never to fancy that you could be some- 
thing if only you had a different lot and sphere 
assigned you. God understands His own plan, 
and He knows what you want a great deal better 
than you do. The very things that you most 
deprecate, as fatal limitations or obstructions, are 
probably what you most w 7 ant. What you call 
hindrances, obstacles, discouragements, are prob- 
ably God's opportunities. Bring down your soul, 
or, rather, bring it up to receive God's will and do 
His work, in your lot, in your sphere, under your 
cloud of obscurity, against your temptations, 
and then you shall find that your condition is 
never opposed to your good, but really consistent 
with it. 



P. Gerhardt. 




H. BUSHNELL. 



October 29. 



303 



Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver ; 
I have chose7i thee in the fiwnace of affliction. 
— Isa. xlviii. 10. 

Be patient, suffering soul ! I hear thy cry. 

The trial fires may glow, but I am nigh. 
I see the silver, and I will refine 
Until My image shall upon it shine. 

Fear not, for I am near, thy help to be ; 

Greater than all thy pain, My love for thee. 



,OD takes a thousand times more pains with 



us than the artist with his picture, by many 
touches of sorrow, and by many colors of circum- 
stance, to bring man into the form which is the 
highest and noblest in His sight, if only we re- 
ceived His gifts and myrrh in the right spirit. 
. . . But when the cup is put away, and these 
feelings are stifled or unheeded, a greater injury 
is done to the soul than can ever be amended. 
For. no heart can conceive in what surpassing 
love God giveth us this myrrh ; yet this which we 
ought to receive to our soul's good, we suffer to 
pass by us in our sleepy indifference, and noth- 
ing comes of it. Then we come and complain : 
"Alas, Lord! I am so dry, and it is so dark 
within me ! " I tell thee, dear child, open thy 
heart to the pain, and it will do thee more 
good than if thou wert full of feeling and de- 
voutness. 



H. w. C. 




J. Taulek 



304 October 30. 



That good thing which was committed unto thee, 
keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelieih in us. — 
: Tim. i. 14. 

Oh that the Comforter would come ! 

Xor visit as a transient guest, 
But fix in me His constant home, 

And keep possession of my breast : 
And make my soul His loved abode, 
The temple of indwelling God! 

C. Wesley. 

HPHY spirit should become, while yet on earth. 

A the peaceful throne of the Divine Being : 
think, then, how quiet, how gentle and pure, how- 
reverent, thou shouldst be. 

Gerhard Tersteegen. 

I caxxot tell you how much I love you. But 
that which of all things I have most at heart, 
with regard to you. is the real progress of your 
soul in the divine life. Heaven seems to be 
awakened in you. It is a tender plant. It re- 
quires stillness, meekness, and the unity of the 
heart, totally given up to the unknown workings 
of the Spirit of God. which will do all its work 
in the calm soul, that has no hunger or desire 
but to escape out of the mire of its earthly life 
into its lost union and life in God. I mention 
this, out of a fear of your giving in to an eagerness 
about many things, which, though seemingly 
innocent, yet divide and weaken the workings of 
the divine life within you. 

Wm. Law. 



October 31. 



305 



And Enoch walked with God; and he was not^ 
for God took him. — Gen. v. 24. 

Oh for a closer walk with God, 
A calm and heavenly frame ; 

A light to shine upon the road 
That leads me to the Lamb ! 

W. COWPER 

TS it possible for any of us in these modern days 
to so live that we may walk with God? 
Can we w r alk with God in the shop, in the office, 
in the household, and on the street ? When men 
exasperate us, and work wearies us, and the 
children fret, and the servants annoy, and our 
best-laid plans fall to pieces, and our casties in 
the air are dissipated like bubbles that break at 
a breath, then can w r e walk with God? That 
religion which fails us in the e very-day trials and 
experiences of life has somewhere in it a flaw. 
It should be more than a plank to sustain us in 
the rushing tide, and land us exhausted and 
dripping on the other side. It ought, if it come 
from above, to be always, day by day, to our 
souls as the wings of a bird, bearing us away 
from and beyond the impediments which seek 
to hold us down. If the Divine Love be a con- 
scious presence, an indwelling force with us, it 
will do this. 

Christian Union 

20 



3o<5 



November 1. 



Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth 
is named. — Eph. iii. 15. 

One family, we dwell in Him ; 

One church above, beneath ; 
Though now divided by the stream, — 

The narrow stream of death. 

One army of the living God, 
To His command we bow : 
Part of His host has crossed the flood, 



ET us, then, learn that we can never be 



lonely or forsaken in this life. Shall they 
forget us because they are " made perfect " ? 
Shall they love us the less because they now have 
power to love us more ? If we forget them not, 
shall they not remember us with God ? No trial, 
then, can isolate us, no sorrow can cut us off 
from the Communion of Saints. Kneel down, 
and you are with them 3 lift up your eyes, and 
the heavenly world, high above all perturbation, 
hangs serenely overhead ; only a thin veil, it 
may be, floats between. All whom we loved, 
and all who loved us, whom we still love no less, 
while they love us yet more, are ever near, be- 
cause ever in His presence in whom we live and 



And part is crossing now. 



C. Wesley. 




dwell. 



H. E. Manning. 



November 2. 



307 



Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about 
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside 
every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset 
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set 
before us. — Heb. xii. i. 

When the powers of hell prevail 
O'er our weakness and unfitness, 

Could we lift the fleshly veil, 
Could we for a moment witness 

Those unnumbered hosts that stand 

Calm and bright on either hand ; 

Oh, what joyful hope would cheer, 

Oh, what faith serene would guide us ! 

Great may be the danger near, 
Greater are the friends beside us. 

Anon, 

WE are compassed about by a cloud of wit- 
nesses, whose hearts throb in sympathy 
with every effort and struggle, and who thrill with 
joy at every success. How should this thought 
check and rebuke every worldly feeling and un- 
worthy purpose, and enshrine us, in the midst of 
a forgetful and unspiritual world, with an atmos- 
phere of heavenly peace ! They have overcome 

— have risen — are crowned, glorified ; but still 
they remain to us, our assistants, our comforters, 
and in every hour of darkness their voice speaks 
to us : " So we grieved, so we struggled, so we 
fainted, so we doubted • but we have overcome, 
we have obtained, we have seen, we have found, 

— and in our victory behold the certainty of thy 
own." 

H. B. Stowe. 



3 o8 



November 3. 



Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man 
truth with his neighbor : for we are members one 
of another. — Eph. iv. 25. 

In conversation be sincere; 
Keep conscience as the noontide clear 
Think how All-seeing God thy ways 
And all thy secret thoughts surveys. 

Thomas Ke> 

^FHE essence of lying is in deception, not iy 
words ; a lie may be told by silence, by 
equivocation, by the accent on a syllable, by a 
glance of the eye attaching a peculiar significance 
to a sentence ; and all these kinds of lies are 
worse and baser by many degrees than a lie 
plainly worded ; so that no form of blinded con- 
science is so far sunk as that which comforts it- 
self for having deceived because the deception 
was by gesture or silence, instead of utterance. 

J. Ruskin. 

He that is habituated to deceptions and artifi- 
cialities in trifles, will try in vain to be true in 
matters of importance ; for truth is a thing of 
habit rather than of will. You cannot in any 
given case by any sudden and single effort will 
to be true, if the habit of your life has been 
insincerity. 

F= W. Robertson 



November 4. 



309 



A soft answer tiirneth away wrath : but griev- 
ous words stir up anger. — Prov. xv. i. 

Doest thou well to be angry ? — Jonah iv. 4. 

Renew Thine image, Lord, in me, 
Lowly and gentle may I be ; 

No charms but these to Thee are dear ; 
No anger mayst Thou ever find, 
No pride in my unruffled mind, 

But faith, and heaven- born peace be there. 



EITHER say nor do aught displeasing to 



thy neighbor ; and if thou hast been want- 
ing in charity, seek his forgiveness, or speak to 
him with gentleness. Speak always with mild- 
ness and in a low tone of voice. 



Injuries hurt not more in the receiving than 
in the remembrance. A small injury shall go as 
it comes ; a great injury may dine or sup with 
me ; but none at all shall lodge with me. Why 
should I vex myself because another hath vexed 
me ? Grief for things past that cannot be reme- 
died, and care for things to come that cannot be 
prevented, may easily hurt, can never benefit 
me. I will therefore commit myself to God in 
both, and enjoy the present. 



P. Gerhardt. 




L. Scupoll 



Joseph Hall 



3io 



November 5. 



The te7nple of God is holy, which temple ye 
are, — I Cor. iii. 17. 

Now shed Thy mighty influence abroad 
On souls that would their Father's image bear; 
Make us as holy temples of our God, 
Where dwells forever calm, adoring prayer. 



HIS pearl of eternity is the church or temple 



of God within thee, the consecrated place 
of divine worship, where alone thou canst wor- 
ship God in spirit and in truth. When once thou 
art well grounded in this inward worship, thou 
wilt have learned to live unto God above time 
and place. For every day will be Sunday to thee, 
and, wherever thou goest, thou wilt have a priest, 
a church, and an altar along with thee. For 
when God has all that he should have of thy 
heart, when thou art wholly given up to the 
obedience of the light and spirit of God within 
thee, to will only in His will, to love only in His 
love, to be wise only in His wisdom, then it is 
that everything thou dost is as a song of praise, 
and the common business of thy life is a con- 
forming to God's will on earth as angels do in 
heaven. 



C. J. P. Spitta. 




Wm. Law 



November 6. 



3ii 



He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him : 
He also will hear their cry, and will save them. — 
Ps. cxlv. 19. 

Delight thyself also in the Lord j and He shall 
give thee the desires of thine heart. — Ps. xxxvii. 4. 

Though to-day may not fulfil 
All thy hopes, have patience still ; 
For perchance to-morrow's sun 
Sees thy happier days begun. 

P. Gerhardt, 

T1JIS great desire and delight is God ; and 
by desiring and delighting, he hath Him. 
Delight thou in the Lord, and He shall give thee 
thy hearfs desire, — Himself ; and then surely 
thou shalt have all. Any other thing commit it 
to Him, and he shall bring it to pass. 

R. Leighton. 

All who call on God in true faith, earnestly 
from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will 
receive what they have asked and desired, al- 
though not in the hour or in the measure, or the 
very thing which they ask ; yet they will obtain 
something greater and more glorious than they 
had dared to ask. 

Martin Luthef 



3*2 



November 7. 



/ was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. — 
Acts xxvi. 19. 

The Lord our God will we serve, and His voice 
will we obey. — Josh. xxiv. 24. 



I will shun no toil or woe, 
Where Thou leadest I will go, 

Be my pathway plain or rough ; 
If but every hour may be 
Spent in work that pleases Thee, 

Ah, dear Lord, it is enough ! 



LL these longings and doubts, and this in- 



ward distress, are the voice of the Good 
Shepherd in your heart, seeking to call you out of 
all that is contrary to His will. Oh, let me en- 
treat of you not to turn away from His gentle 
pleadings. 



The fear of man brings a snare. By halting in 
our duty and giving back in the time of trial, our 
hands grow weaker, our ears grow dull as to 
hearing the language of the true Shepherd ; so 
that when we look at the way of the righteous, it 
seems as though it was not for us to follow them. 



G. Tersteegen. 




H. W. S. 



J. WOOLMAN. 



November 8. 



313 



Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. — Heb. x. 9. 
Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art 7ny 
God. — Ps. cxiiii. 10. 



Lo ! I come with joy to do 

The Father's blessed will ; 
Him in outward works pursue, 

And serve His pleasure still. 
Faithful to my Lord's commands, 

I still would choose the better part ; 
Serve with careful Martha's hands, 

And loving Mary's heart. 



SOUL cannot be regarded as truly subdued 



* and consecrated in its will, and as having 
passed into union with the Divine will, until it has 
a disposition to do promptly and faithfully all that 
God requires, as well as to endure patiently and 
thankfully all that He imposes. 



When we have learned to offer up every duty 
connected with our situation in life as a sacrifice 
to God, a settled employment becomes just a 
settled habit of prayer. 



" Do the duty which lies nearest thee" which 
thou knowest to be a duty. Thy second duty 
will already have become clearer. 

T. Carlyle 



C. WesleYc 




T. C. Upham. 



Thomas Erskine. 



3H November 9. 



Say not thou, I will hide myself from the Lord: 
shall any reme?nber me from above ? I shall not 
be remembered among so many people : for what 
is my soul among such an infinite number of crea- 
tures? — ECCLESIASTICUS, Xvi. I 7. 

Among so many, can He care ? 
Can special love be everywhere? 
A myriad homes, — a myriad ways, — 
And God's eye over every place ? 

I asked : my soul bethought of this ; — 
In just that very place of His 
Where He hath put and keepeth you, 
God hath no other thing to do ! 

A. D. T. Whitney. 

IVE free and bold play to those instincts of 
the heart which believe that the Creator 
must care for the creatures He has made, and 
that the only real effective care for them must 
be that which takes each of them into His love, 
and knowing it separately surrounds it with His 
separate sympathy. There is not one life which 
the Life-giver ever loses out of His sight ; not 
one which sins so that He casts it away ; not one 
which is not so near to Him that whatever 
touches it touches Him with sorrow or with 
joy. 

Phillips Brooks 



November 10. 



3i5 



In Him we live, and move, and have our being. — 
Acts xvii. 28. 

Whither shall I go fro7n Thy spirit ? or whither 
shall I flee from Thy presence ? — Ps. cxxxix. 7. 

Yea ! In Thy life our little lives are ended, 
Into Thy depths our trembling spirits fall ; 

In Thee enfolded, gathered, comprehended, 

As holds the sea her waves — Thou hold'st us all. 

E. Scudder. 

VX7HERE then is our God ? You say, He 
is everywhere : then show me anywhere 
that you have met Him. You declare Him 
everlasting : then tell me any moment that He 
has been with you. You believe Him ready to 
succor them that are tempted, and to lift those 
that are bowed down : then in what passionate 
hour did you subside into His calm grace? in 
what sorrow lose yourself in His " more exceed- 
ing " joy? These are the testing questions by 
which we may learn whether we too have raised 
our altar to an " unknown God" and pay the 
worship of the blind ; or whether we commune 
with Him " in whom we live, and move, and have 
our being." 

J. Martineau 



3iO November 11. 



Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, 
being fruitful in every good work, a?id increas- 
ing i7i the knowledge of God; strengthened with 
all might, according to His glorious poiver, unto 
all patience and long-sitjfering with joyfulness. — 
Col. i. io, ii. 



To be the thing we seem, 
To do the thing we deem 

Enjoined by duty ; 
To walk in faith, nor dream 
Of questioning God's scheme 

Of truth and beauty. 



O shape the whole Future is not our problem ; 



but only to shape faithfully a small part 
of it, according to rules already known. It is 
perhaps possible for each of us, who will with 
due earnestness inquire, to ascertain clearly what 
he, for his own part, ought to do ; this let him, 
with true heart, do, and continue doing. The 
general issue will, as it has always done, rest w T ell 
with a Higher Intelligence than ours. . . . This 
day thou knowest ten commanded duties, seest 
in thy mind ten things which should be done for 
one that thou d.oest ! Do one of them ; this of 
itself will show thee ten others which can and 
shall be done. 



Anon, 




T. Carlyle. 



November 12. 



317 



/ must work the works of Him that sent me, 
while it is day j the night cometh, when no man 
can work. — John ix. 4. 

Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task ? — 
Ex. v. 14. 

He who intermits 
The appointed task and duties of the day 
Untunes full oft the pleasures of the day ; 
Checking the finer spirits that refuse 
To flow, when purposes are lightly changed. 

W. Wordsworth. 

T3Y putting off things beyond their proper 
times, one duty treads upon the heels of 
another, and all duties are felt as irksome obliga- 
tions, — a yoke beneath which we fret and lose 
our peace. In most cases the consequence of this 
is, that we have no time to do the work as it 
ought to be done. It is therefore done precipi- 
tately, with eagerness, with a greater desire simply 
to get it done, than to do it well, and with very 
little thought of God throughout. 

F. W. Faber. 

Sufficient for each day is the good thereof, 
equally as the evil. We must do at once, and 
with our might, the merciful deed that our hand 
nndeth to do, — else it will never be done, for 
the hand will find other tasks, and the arrears 
fall through. And every unconsummated good 
feeling, every unfulfilled purpose that His spirit 
has prompted, shall one day charge us as faithless 
and recreant before God. 

J. H. Thom. 



3 1 8 November 13. 



Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, 0 
Lord, and teachest him out of Thy law. — Ps. 
xciv. 12. 

Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it. — Jer. 
x. 19. 

Hold in thy murmurs, heaven arraigning ! 

The patient see God's loving face ; 
Who bear their burdens uncomplaining, 

'T is they that win the Father's grace. 

Anon. 

\\0 not run to this and that for comfort when 
you are in trouble, but bear it. Be uncom- 
fortably quiet — be uneasily silent — be patiently 
unhappy. 

J. P. Greaves. 

Hard words will vex ; unkindness zuill pierce ; 
neglect will wound ; threatened evils will make 
the soul quiver; sharp pain or weariness will 
rack the body, or make it restless. But what 
says the Psalmist? "When my heart is vexed, 
I will complain." To whom? Not of God, but 
to God. 

E. B. Pusey. 

Surely, I have thought, I do not want to have 
a grief which would not be a grief. I feel that 
I shall be able to take up my cross in a religious 
spirit soon, and then it will be all right. 

James Hinton 



November 14. 319 



Thou art my servant ; I have formed thee j thou 
art my servant j O Israel, thou shalt not be for- 
gotten of me. — Is A. xliv. 21. 

Oh, give Thy servant patience to be still, 

And bear Thy will ; 
Courage to venture wholly on the arm 

That will not harm ; 
The wisdom that will never let me stray 

Out of my way ; 
The love, that, now afflicting, knoweth best 

When I should rest. 

J. M. Xeale. 

A CCEPT His will entirely, and never suppose 
that you could serve Him better in any 
other way. You can never serve Him well, save 
in the way He chooses. Supposing that you 
were never to be set free from such trials, what 
would you do? You would say to God, " I am 
Thine — if my trials are acceptable to Thee, give 
me more and more." I have full confidence that 
this is what you would say, and then you would 
not think more of it — at any rate, you would 
not be anxious. "Well, do the same now. Make 
friends with your trials, as though you were al- 
ways to live together ; and you will see that when 
you cease to take thought for your own deliver- 
ance, God will take thought for you ; and when 
you cease to help yourself eagerly, He will help 
you. 

Francis de Sales. 

Ah, if you knew 7 what peace there is in an 
accepted sorrow- ! 

Madame Guyon 



320 November 15. 



Fear thou not ; for I am with thee: be not dis- 
mayed ; for I am thy God : I will strengthen 
thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee 
with the right hand of my righteousness. — Is A. 
xli. 10. 

Lord, be Thou near and cheer my lonely way ; 

With Thy sweet peace my aching bosom fill ; 
Scatter my cares and fears ; my griefs allay, 

And be it mine each day 

To love and please Thee still 

P. CORNEILLE 

\T 7 HAT if the wicked nature, which is as a 
sea casting out mire and dirt, rage against 
thee? There is a river, a sweet, still, flowing 
river, the streams whereof will make glad thy 
heart. And, learn but in quietness and stillness 
to retire to the Lord, and wait upon Him ; in 
whom thou shalt feel peace and joy, in the midst 
of thy trouble from the cruel and vexatious spirit 
of this world. So, wait to know thy work and 
service to the Lord every day, in thy place and 
station ; and the Lord make thee faithful therein, 
and thou wilt want neither help, support, nor 
comfort. 

I. Penington. 



November 16. 



3*i 



Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind 
is stayed on Thee j because he trusteth in Thee, — 

IS A. XXVI. 3. 

What comforts. Lord, to those are given, 
Who seek in Thee their home and rest ! 

They find on earth an opening heaven, 
And in Thy peace are amply blest. 



OD is a tranquil Being, and abides in a tran- 



quil eternity. So must thy spirit become 
a tranquil and clear little pool, wherein the serene 
light of God can be mirrored. Therefore shun all 
that is disquieting and distracting, both within 
and without. Nothing in the whole world is 
worth the loss of thy peace ; even the faults 
which thou hast committed should only humble, 
but not disquiet thee. God is full of joy. peace, 
and happiness. Endeavor then to obtain a con- 
tinually joyful and peaceful spirit. Avoid all 
anxious care, vexation, murmuring, and melan- 
choly, which darken thy soul, and render thee 
unfit for the friendship of God. If thou dost 
perceive such feelings arising, turn gently away 
from them. 



W. C. Dessler. 




G. Tersteegen 



322 



November 17. 



Every day will I bless Thee, and I will praise 
Thy name for ever a?id ever. — Ps. cxlv. 2. 

Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts 
shall be established. — Pro v. xvi. 3. 

Lord, I my vows to Thee renew ; 
Disperse my sins as morning dew ; 
Guard my first springs of thought and will, 
And with Thyself my spirit fill. 

Thomas Ken. 

A/TORNING by morning think, for a few mo- 
ments, of the chief employments of the 
day, any one thing of greater moment than 
others, thine own especial trial, any occasions 
of it which are likely to come that day, and by 
one short strong act commend thyself before- 
hand in all to God ; offer all thy thoughts, words, 
and deeds to Him — to be governed, guided, ac- 
cepted by Him. . . . Choose some great occasions 
of the day. such as bring with them most trial 
to thee, on which, above others, to commend 
thyself to God. 

E. B. Pusey. 

Will you not, before venturing away from your 
early quiet hour, "commit thy works" to Him 
definitely, the special things you have to do 
to-day, and the unforeseen work which He may 
add in the course of it? 

F. R. Havergal. 



November 18. 323 



Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He 
in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit, ~* 
1 John iv. 13. 

Within ! within, oh turn 

Thy spirit's eyes, and learn 
Thy wandering senses gently to control ; 
Thy dearest Friend dwells deep within thy soul, 

And asks thyself of thee, 
That heart, and mind, and sense, He may make whole 

In perfect harmony. 



AIT patiently, trust humbly, depend only 



* v upon, seek solely to a God of Light and 
Love, of Mercy and Goodness, of Glory and Maj- 
esty, ever dwelling in the inmost depth and spirit 
of your soul. There you have all the secret, hid- 
den, invisible Upholder of all the creation, whose 
blessed operation will always be found by a 
humble, faithful, loving, calm, patient introversion 
of your heart to Him, who has His hidden 
heaven within you, and which will open itself 
to you, as soon as your heart is left wholly 
to His eternal, ever-speaking word, and ever- 
sanctifying spirit within you. Beware of all 
eagerness and activity of your own natural spirit 
and temper. Run not in any hasty ways of 
your own. Be patient under the sense of your 
own vanity and weakness \ and patiently wait 
for God to do His own work, and in His own 
way. 



G. Tersteegen. 




Wm. Law 



5-4 



November 19. 



If any man among you see/// to be religious, and 
bridleth not his tongue, but deeeiveth his own heart, 
this man's religion is vain, — James i. 26. 

I said, I will take heed to my ways, that 1 sin 
not with my tongue. — Ps. xxxix. 1. 

No sinful word, nor deed of wrong, 

Nor thoughts that idly rove ; 
But simple truth be on our tongue, 

And in our hearts be love. 

St. Ambrose. 

T ET us all resolve, — First, to attain the grace 



of silence ; Second, to deem all fault- 
finding that does no good a sin, and to resolve, 
when we are happy ourselves, not to poison the 
atmosphere for our neighbors by calling on them 
to remark every painful and disagreeable feature 
of their daily life ; Third, to practise the grace 
and virtue of praise. 



Surrounded by those who constantly exhibit 
defects of character and conduct, if we yield to 
a complaining and impatient spirit, we shall mar 
our own peace without having the satisfaction of 
benefiting others. 




Harriet B. Stowe 



T. C. Upham 



November 20. 



325 



Ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done 
the will of God, ye might receive the promise. — 
Heb. x. 36. 

Sweet Patience, come : 
Not from a low and earthly source/ — 
Waiting, till things shall have their course,— 
Not as accepting present pain 
In hope of some hereafter gain, — 
Not in a dull and sullen calm, — 
But as a breath of heavenly balm, 
Bidding my weary heart submit 
To bear whatever God sees fit : 

Sweet Patience, come ! 

Hymns of the Church Militant. 

TDATIENCE endues her scholars with content 
of mind, and evenness of temper, prevent- 
ing all repining grumbling, and impatient desires, 
and inordinate affections ; disappointments here 
are no crosses, and all anxious thoughts are dis- 
armed of their sting ; in her habitations dwell 
quietness, submission, and long-suffering, all fierce 
turbulent inclinations are hereby allayed. The 
eyes of the patient fixedly wait the inward power 
of God's providence, and they are thereby 
mightily enabled towards their salvation and 
preservation. 

Thomas Tryon 



326 November 21. 



Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every 
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. — 
AIatt. iv. 4. 

A maris life consistent not in the abundance of 
the things which he possesseth. — Luke xii. 15. 

YVhate'er God does is well, 
Whether He gives or takes ! 
And what we from His hand receive 

Suffices us to live. 
He takes and gives, while yet He loves us still. 

Then love His will. 

B. Schmolck. 

TS that beast better, that hath two or three moun- 
tains to graze on, than a little bee, that feeds 
on dew or manna, and lives upon what falls every 
morning from the storehouse of heaven, clouds, 
and providence ? 

Jeremy Taylor. 

For myself I am certain that the good of hu- 
man life cannot lie in the possession of things 
which for one man to possess is for the rest to 
lose, but rather in things w 7 hich all can possess 
alike, and where one man's wealth promotes his 
neighbor's. 

B. Spinoza, 

Every lot is happy to a person who bears it 
with tranquillity. 

BOETHIUS. 



November 22. 327 



Your Father knoweth what things ye have need 
of. — Matt. vi. 8. 

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His right- 
eousness, and all these things shall be added unto 
you. — Matt. vi. 33. 

Thy kingdom come, with power and grace, 

To every heart of man ; 
Thy peace, and joy, and righteousness 

In all our bosoms reign. 



OD bids us, then, by past mercies, by present 



grace, by fears of coming ill, by hopes in 
His goodness, earnestly, with our whole hearts, 
seek Him and His righteousness, and all these 
things, all ye need for soul and body, peace, com- 
fort, joy, the overflowing of His consolations, 
shall be added over and above to you. 



Grant us. O Lord, we beseech Thee, always 
to seek Thy kingdom and righteousness, and of 
whatsoever Thou seest us to stand in need, mer- 
cifully grant us an abundant portion. Amen. 

Be content to be a child, and let the Father 
proportion out daily to thee what light, what 
power, what exercises, what straits, what fears, 
w T hat troubles He sees fit for thee. 



G. Wesley. 




E. B. Pusey. 



I. Penington 



328 Novembei 23. 



/ have taught thee in the way of wisdom j I have 
led thee in right paths. — Prov. iv. n. 

We know not what the path may be 

As yet by us untrod ; 
But we can trust our all to Thee, 

Our Father and our God. 

Wm. J. Irons 

7E have very little command over the cir- 
cumstances in which we may be called by 
God to bear our part — unlimited command over 
the temper of our souls, but next to no command 
over the outward forms of trial. The most ener- 
getic will cannot order the events by which our 
spirits are to be perilled and tested. Powers 
quite beyond our reach — death, accident, for- 
tune, another's sin — may change in a moment 
all the conditions of our life. With to-morrow's 
sun existence may have new and aw T ful aspects 
for any of us. 

J. H. Thom. 

Oh, my friend, look not out at what stands in 
the way ; what if it look dreadfully as a lion, is not 
the Lord stronger than the mountains of prey? 
but look in, where the law of life is written, and 
the will of the Lord revealed, that thou mayest 
know what is the Lord's will concerning thee. 

I. Penington 



November 24. 329 



Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your 
heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. — Ps. xxxi. 24. 

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be 
afraid. — John xiv. 27. 

In heavenly love abiding, 

Xo change my heart shall fear ; 

And safe is such confiding, 
For nothing changes here. 

A. L. Waring. 

A TRUE Christian, that hath power over his 



own will, may live nobly and happily, and 
enjoy a clear heaven within the serenity of his 
own mind perpetually. When the sea of this 
world is most rough and tempestuous about him, 
then can he ride safely at anchor within the 
haven, by a sweet compliance of his will with 
God's will. He can look about him, and with 
an even and indifferent mind behold the world 
either to smile or frown upon him • neither will 
he abate of the least of his contentment for all 
the ill and unkind usage he meets withal in this 
life. He that hath got the mastery over his own 
will feels no violence from without, finds no con- 
tests within ; and when God calls for him out 
of this state of mortality, he finds in himself 
a power to lay down his own life ; neither is it 
so much taken from him, as quietly and freely 
surrendered up by him. 




Dr. John Smith, 



330 



November 25. 



And the Lord, He it is that doth go before thee; 
He will be with thee, He will ?iot fail thee, neither 
forsake thee : fear not, neither be dismayed. — 
Deut. xxxi. 8. 

Know well, my soul, God's hand controls 

Whate'er thou fearest ; 
Round Him in calmest music rolls 



HE lessons of the moral sentiment are, once 



for all, an emancipation from that anxiety 
which takes the joy out of all life. It teaches 
a great peace. It comes itself from the highest 
place. It is that, which being in all sound 
natures, and strongest in the best and most 
gifted men, we Jmow to be implanted by the 
Creator of men. It is a commandment at even- 
moment, and in every condition of life, to do the 
duty of that moment, and to abstain from doing 
the wrong. 



Go face the fire at sea, or the cholera in your 
friend's house, or the burglar in your own. or 
what danger lies in the way of duty, knowing 
you are guarded by the cherubim of Destiny. 



Whate'er thou hearest. 



J. G. Whittier. 




R. W. Emerson. 



K. W. Emerson 



November 26. 331 



Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all 
places whither thou goes t. — Gen. xxviii. 15. 



Be quiet, soul : 
Why shouldst thou care and sadness borrow, 
Why sit in nameless fear and sorrow, 

The livelong day ? 
God will mark out thy path to-morrow 

In His best way. 

Anon. 



T HAD hoped, Madame, to find you here, and 
was rejoicing in that hope ; but God has 
sent you elsewhere. The best place is wherever 
He puts us, and any other would be undesirable, 
all the worse because it would please our fancy, 
and would be of our own choice. Do not think 
about distant events. This uneasiness about the 
future is unwholesome for you. We must leave 
to God all that depends on Him, and think only 
of being faithful in all that depends upon our • 
selves. When God takes away that which He 
has given you, He knows well how to replace it ? 
either through other means or by Himself. 

Fenelon 



332 



November 27. 



The Lord hath been mindful of us : He will 
jleSS US. — Ps. cxv. 12. 

My Father ! what am I, that all 
Thy mercies sweet like sunlight fall 

So constant o'er my way ? 
That Thy great love should shelter me, 
And guide my steps so tenderly 

Through every changing day ? 

Anon. 

V17HAT a strength and spring of life, what 
hope and trust, what glad, unresting 
energy, is in this one thought, — to serve Him 
w T ho is "my Lord," ever near me, ever looking 
on ; seeing my intentions before He beholds 
my failures ; knowing my desires before He sees 
my faults ; cheering me to endeavor greater 
things, and yet accepting the least ; inviting my 
poor service, and yet, above all, content with 
my poorer love. Let us try to realize this, what- 
soever, wheresoever we be. The humblest and 
the simplest, the weakest and the most encum- 
bered, may love Him not less than the busiest 
and strongest, the most gifted and laborious. 
If our heart be clear before Him ; if He be to 
us our chief and sovereign choice, dear above 
all, and beyond all desired ; then all else matters 
little. That which concerneth us He will perfect 
in stillness and in power. 

H. E. Manning 



November 28. 



333 



Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love) 
therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. 
— Jer. xxxi. 3. 

On the great love of God I lean, 

Love of the Infinite, Unseen, 

With nought of heaven or earth between. 

This God is mine, and I am His ; 

His love is all I need of bliss. 

H. Boxar. 

TF ever human love was tender, and self- 
sacrificing, and devoted ; if ever it could 
bear and forbear ; if ever it could suffer gladly 
for its loved ones ; if ever it was willing to pour 
itself out in a lavish abandonment for the comfort 
or pleasure of its objects ; then infinitely more 
is Divine love tender, and self-sacrificing, and 
devoted, and glad to bear and forbear, and tc 
suffer, and to lavish its best of gifts and blessings 
upon the objects of its love. Put together all 
the tenderest love you know of, the deepest you 
have ever felt, and the strongest that has ever 
been poured out upon you, and heap upon it 
all the love of all the loving human hearts in the 
world, and then multiply it by infinity, and you will 
begin, perhaps, to have some faint glimpse of 
what the love of God is. 

H. W. S. 



334 



November 29. 



My sons, be not now negligent : for the Lord hath 
chosen you to stand before Hi?n, to serve Him. — 
2 Chron. xxix. n. 

Bright be my prospect as I pass along ; — 
An ardent service at the cost of all, — 

Love by untiring ministry made strong, 
And ready for the first, the softest call. 



HERE are many things that appear trifles, 



which greatly tend to enervate the soul, 
and hinder its progress in the path to virtue and 
glory. The habit of indulging in things which 
our judgment cannot thoroughly approve, grows 
stronger and stronger by every act of self-gratifi- 
cation, and we are led on by degrees to an excess 
of luxury which must greatly weaken our hands 
in the spiritual warfare. If we do not endeavor 
to do that which is right in every particular cir- 
cumstance, though trifling, we shall be in great 
danger of letting the same negligence take place 
in matters more essential. 



The will can only be made submissive by 
frequent self-denials, which must keep in subjec- 
tion its sallies and inclinations. Great weakness 
is often produced by indulgences which seem of 
no importance. 



A. L. Waring. 




Margaret Woods. 



M. Molinos. 



November 30. 335 



Why art thou cast down, O my soul ? and why 
art thou disquieted in me f hope thou in God ; 
for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His coun- 
tenance. — Ps. xlii. 5. 

We are troubled 011 every side, yet not distressed. 
— 2 Cor. iv. 8. 

Oh, my soul, why art thou vexed ? 

Let things go e'en as they will ; 
Though to thee they seem perplexed, 

Yet His order they fulfil. 

A. H. Francke. 



HE vexation, restlessness, and impatience 



which small trials cause, arise w T holly from 
our ignorance and want of self-control. We may 
be thwarted and troubled, it is true, but these 
things put us into a condition for exercising 
patience and meek submission, and the self- 
abnegation wherein alone the fulness of God is to 
be found. 



Every day deny yourself some satisfaction : — 
bearing all the inconveniences of life (for the 
love of God), cold, hunger, restless nights, ill 
health, unwelcome news, the faults of servants, 
contempt, ingratitude of friends, malice of ene- 
mies, calumnies, our own failings, lcwness of 
spirits, the struggle in overcoming our corrup- 
tions ; — bearing all these with patience and 
resignation to the will of God. Do all this as 
unto God, with the greatest privacy. 




De Renty. 



Bishop Wilson 



33^ 



December 1. 



Charity envieth not, . . . thinketh no evil, — 
1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5. 

Why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost 
thou set at nought thy brother f — Rom. xiv. 10. 

He that despise th his neighbor, sinneth. — Pro v. 
xiv. 21. 

Look thou with pity on a brother's fall, 

But dwell not with stern anger on his fault; 

The grace of God alone holds thee, holds all ; 

Were that withdrawn, thou toowouldst swerve and halt. 

J. Edmestgx. 

JF, on hearing of the fall of a brother, however 
differing or severed from us, we feel the least 
inclination to linger over it, instead of hiding it in 
grief and shame, or veiling it in the love which 
covereth a multitude of sins ■ if, in seeing a joy or 
a grace or an effective service given to others, we 
do not rejoice, but feel depressed, let us be very 
watchful ; the most diabolical of passions may 
mask itself as humility, or zeal for the glory of 
Uod. 

Elizabeth Charles. 

Love taketh up no malign elements ; its spirit 
prompteth it to cover in mercy all things that 
ought not to be exposed, to believe all of good 
that can be believed, to hope all things that a 
good God makes possible, and to endure all things 
that the hope may be made good. 

J. H. Thom 



December 2. 



337 



Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whoso- 
ever thou art that judgest : for wherein thoit judg- 
est another, thou condemnest thyself j for thou thai 
judgest doest the same things. — Rom. ii. i. 

Search thine own heart. What paineth thee 

In others, in thyself may be ; 
All dust is frail, all flesh is weak ; 

Be thou the true man thou dost seek. 

J. G. Whittier. 

A SAINT'S life in one man may be less than 
common honesty in another. From us, 
whose consciences He has reached and enlight- 
ened, God may look for a martyr's truth, a Chris- 
tian's unworldly simplicity, before He will place 
us on a level even with the average of the exposed 
classes. We perhaps think our lives at least 
harmless. We do not consider what He may 
think of them, when compared with the invita- 
tions of His that we have slighted, with the aims 
of His Providence we are leaving without our 
help, with the glory for ourselves we are refusing 
and casting away, with the vast sum of blessed 
work that daily faithfulness in time can rear with- 
out overwork on any single day. 

J H. Thom 

22 



338 



December 3. 



Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and 
peace in believing, that ye ?nay abound in hope, 
through the power of the Holy Ghost. — Rom. 
xv. 13. 

To heaven I lift my waiting eyes ; 

There all my hopes are laid ; 
The Lord that built the earth and skies 

Is my perpetual aid. 



ROVEL not in things below, among earthly 



v ^ cares, pleasures, anxieties, toils, if thou 
wouldst have a good strong hope on high. Lift 
up thy cares with thy heart to God, if thou 
wouldst hope in Him. Then see what in thee is 
most displeasing to God. This it is which hold- 
eth thy hope down. Strike firmly, repeatedly, in 
the might of God, until it give way. Thy hope 
will soar at once with thy thanks to God who 
delivereth thee. 



The snares of the enemy will be so known to 
thee and discerned, the way of help so manifest 
and easy, that their strength will be broken, and 
the poor entangled bird will fly away singing, 
from the nets and entanglements of the fowler ; 
and praises will spring up, and great love in thy 
heart to the Forgiver and Redeemer. 



I. Watts. 




E. B. Pusey. 



I. Penington 



December 4. 



339 



Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eter- 
nal life, whereunto thou art also called. — i Tim. 
vi. 12. 

Oh, dream no more of quiet life ; 
Care finds the careless out ; more wise to vow 

Thy heart entire to faith's pure strife ; 
So peace will come, thou knowest not when or how. 



HO art thou that complainest of thy life of 



toil? Complain not. Look up, my wea- 
ried brother ; see thy fellow-workmen there, in 
God's Eternity; surviving there, they alone 
surviving; sacred band of the Immortals, ce- 
lestial body-guard of the empire of mankind. 
To thee Heaven, though severe, is not unkind ; 
Heaven is kind, — as a noble mother ; as that 
Spartan mother, saying while she gave her son 
his shield, "With it, my son, or upon it." Thou 
too shalt return home in honor ; to thy far-distant 
Home, in honor ; doubt it not, — if in the battle 
thou keep thy shield ! Thou, in the Eternities 
and deepest death-kingdoms art not an alien; 
thou everywhere art a denizen. Complain not. 



Lyra Apostolica. 




T. Carlyle 



340 



December 5. 



The God of all grace, who hath called us unto 
His eternal glory by Christ Jesus ^ after that ye 
have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, 
strengthen, settle you. — i Pet. v. io. 

Take heed, and be quiet ; fear not, neither be 
faint-hearted. — Is A. vii. 4. 

How shalt thou bear the cross that now 

So dread a weight appears ? 
Keep quietly to God, and think 

Upon the Eternal Years. 



OD forgive them that raise an ill report upon 



the sweet cross of Christ \ it is but our 
weak and dim eyes, that look but to the black 
side, that makes us mistake ; those that can take 
that crabbed tree handsomely upon their backs, 
and fasten it on cannily, shall find it such a bur- 
den as wings unto a bird, or sails to a ship. 



Blessed is any weight, however overwhelming, 
which God has been so good as to fasten with 
His own hand upon our shoulders. 

F. W. Faber. 

We cannot say this or that trouble shall not 
befall, yet we may, by help of the Spirit, say, 
nothing that doth befall shall make me do that 
which is unworthy of a Christian. 



F. W. Faber. 




S Rutherford. 



R. Sibbes 



December 6. 



34i 



This God is our God for ever and ever : He will 
be our guide even unto death. — Ps. xlviii. 14. 

For the Lord shall be thy confidence. — Prov< 
iii. 26. 

Be still, my soul ! Thy God doth undertake 
To guide the future, as He has the past : 

Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake, 
All now mysterious shall be bright at last. 

J. BORTHWICK. 

TTE has kept and folded us from ten thousand 
ills when we did not know it : in the 
midst of our security we should have perished 
every hour, but that He sheltered us " from the 
terror by night and from the arrow that flieth 
by day " — from the powers of evil that walk in 
darkness, from snares of our own evil will. He 
has kept us even against ourselves, and saved us 
even from our own undoing. Let us read the 
traces of His hand in all our ways, in all the events, 
the chances, the changes of this troubled state. 
It is He that folds and feeds us, that makes us to 
go in and out, — to be faint, or to find pasture, 
— to lie down by the still waters, or to walk by 
the way that is parched and desert. 

H. E. Manning, 

We are never without help. We have no 
right to say of any good work, it is too hard for 
me to do, or of any sorrow, it is too hard for me 
to bear ; or of any sinful habit, it is too hard for 
me to overcome. 

Elizabeth Charles 



34 2 



December 7. 



Acquaint now thyself with Htm, and be at peace, 
— Job xxii. 21. 

All thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and 
great shall be the peace of thy children, — Isa 
liv. 13. 



Unite, my roving thoughts, unite 

In silence soft and sweet ; 
And thou, my soul, sit gently down 

At thy great Sovereign's feet. 

P. Doddridge. 



ES ! blessed are those holy hours in which 



the soul retires from the world to be alone 
with God. God's voice, as Himself, is every- 
where. Within and without, He speaks to our 
souls, if we would hear. Only the din of the 
world, or the tumult of our own hearts, deafens 
our inward ear to it. Learn to commune with 
Him in stillness, and He, whom thou hast sought 
in stillness, will be with thee when thou goest 
abroad. 



The great step and direct path to the fear and 
awful reverence of God, is to meditate, and with 
a sedate and silent hush to turn the eyes of the 
mind inwards ; there to seek, and with a sub- 
missive spirit wait at the gates of Wisdom's 
temple ; and then the Divine Voice and Distin- 
guishing Power will arise in the light and centre 
of a man's self. 




E. B. Pusey. 



Thomas Tryon. 



December 8. 



343 



Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual 
blessings. — Eph. i. 3 

As sorrowful^ yet alivay rejoicing. — 2 Cor. 
vi. 10. 

It is not happiness I seek, 
Its name I hardly dare to speak ; 
It is not made for man or earth. 
And Heaven alone can give it birth. 

There is a something sweet and pure, 
Through life, through death it may endure; 
With steady foot I onward press, 
And long to win that Blessedness. 



HE elements of happiness in this present 



x life no man can command, even if he 
could command himself, for they depend on the 
action of many wills, on the purity of many 
hearts, and by the highest law of God the holiest 
must ever bear the sins and sorrows of the rest : 
but over the blessedness of his own spirit circum- 
stance need have no control : God has therein 
given an unlimited power to the means of pres- 
ervation, of grace and growth, at every man's 
command. 



There is in man a higher than love of happi- 
ness : he can do without happiness, and instead 
thereof find blessedness ! 



Louisa J. Hall. 




J. H. Thom. 



T. Carlyle 



344 



December 9. 



For this shall every one that is godly pray unto 
Thee in a time when Thou may est be found : surely 
in the floods of great waters they shall not come 
nigh unto him. — Ps. xxxii. 6. 

Be not o'ermastered by thy pain, 

But cling to God, thou shalt not fall ; 
The floods sweep over thee in vain, 

Thou yet shalt rise above them all ; 
For when thy trial seems too hard to bear, 
Lo ! God, thy King, hath granted all thy prayer : 

Be thou content. 

P. Gerhardt 

JT is the Lord's mercy, to give thee breathings 
after life, and cries unto Him against that 
which oppresseth thee ; and happy wilt thou be, 
when He shall fill thy soul with that which He 
hath given thee to breathe after. Be not troubled ; 
for if troubles abound, and there be tossing, and 
storms, and tempests, and no peace, nor any- 
thing visible left to support ; yet, lie still, and 
sink beneath, till a secret hope stir, which will 
stay the heart in the midst of all these ■ until 
the Lord administer comfort, who knows how 
and what relief to give to the weary traveller, 
that knows not where it is, nor which way to look, 
nor w T here to expect a path. 

L Penington, 



December 10. 345 



Behold, we cowit them happy which endure. — 
James v. ii. 

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as 
with sons . — H E B . xii . 7 . 

Trials must and will befall ; 

But with humble faith to see 
Love inscribed upon them all, 

This is happiness to me. 

W. COWPER, 

J^E not afraid of those trials which God may 
see fit to send upon thee. It is with the 
wind and storm of tribulation that God separates 
the true wheat from the chaff. Always remember, 
therefore, that God comes to thee in thy sorrov :s, 
as really as in thy joys. He lays low, and He 
builds up. Thou wilt find thyself far from per- 
fection, if thod dost not find God in every- 
thing. 

M. Molincs. 

God hath provided a sweet and quiet life for 
His children, could they improve and use it ; 
a calm and firm conviction in all the storms and 
troubles that are about them, however things go 3 
to find content, and be careful for nothing. 

R. Leighton 



346 



December 11. 



Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed, ci7id that 
Thine ha?id ?night be with me, and that Thou 
wouldest keep me froin evil, that it may not grieve 
me! — I Chron. iv. 10. 

Ye shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall 
bless thy bread and thy water. — Ex. xxiii. 25. 

What I possess, or what I crave, 
Brings no content, great God, to me, 

If what I would, or what I have, 
Be not possest, and blest, in Thee ; 
What I enjoy, O make it mine, 
In making me that have it, Thine. 



FFER up to God all pure affections, desires, 



regrets, and all the bonds which link us to 
home, kindred, and friends, together with all our 
works, purposes, and labors. These things, which 
are not only lawful, but sacred, become then the 
matter of thanksgiving and oblation. Memories, 
plans for the future, wishes, intentions ; works 
just begun, half done, all but completed ; emo- 
tions, sympathies, affections, — all these things 
throng tnmultuously and dangerously in the heart 
and will. The only way to master them is to 
offer them up to Him, as once ours, under Him, 
always His by right. 



J. Quarles. 




H. E. Manning 



December 12. 



347 



/ delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy 
laiu is within my lieart. — Ps. xl. S. 

A patient, a victorious mind, 
That life and all things casts behind, 

Springs forth obedient to Thy call ; 
A heart that no desire can move, 
But still to adore, believe, and love, 

Give me, my Lord, my Life, my All. 

P. Gerhakdt. 

HPHAT piety which sanctifies us. and which is 
A a true devotion to God, consists in doing 
all His will precisely at the time, in the situation, 
and under the circumstances, in which He has 
placed us. Perfect devotedness requires, not 
only that we do the will of God. but that we do it 
with love. God would have us serve Him with 
delight ; it is our hearts that He asks of us. 

Fenelox. 

Devotion is really neither more nor less than 
a general inclination and readiness to do that 
which we know to be acceptable to God. It is 
that " free spirit/' of which David spoke when he 
said, " I will run the way of Thy commandments, 
when Thou hast set my heart at liberty." Peo- 
ple of ordinary goodness walk in God's way, but 
the devout run in it. and at length they almost 
fly therein. ... To be truly devout, we must 
not only do God's will, but we must do it cheer- 
fully. 

Fraxcis de Sales 



348 December 13. 



So teach us to number our days, that we may 
apply our hearts unto wisdom. — Ps. xc. 12. 

Seek ye not what ye shall eat, or what ye shall 
drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. — Luke 
xii. 29. 

Our days are numbered : let us spare 
Our anxious hearts a needless care : 
'T is Thine to number out our days ; 
'T is ours to give them to Thy praise. 

Madame Guyon. 

T^VERY day let us renew the consecration to 
God's service ; every day let us, in His 
strength, pledge ourselves afresh to do His will, 
even in the veriest trifle, and to turn aside from 
anything that ma)- displease Him. . . . He does 
not bid us bear the burdens of to-morrow, next 
week, or next year. Every day we are to come 
to Him in simple obedience and faith, asking 
help to keep us, and aid us through that day's 
work ; and to-morrow, and to-morrow, and to- 
morrow, through years of long to-morrows, it will 
be but the same thing to do ; leaving the future 
always in God's hands, sure that He can care for 
it better than we. Blessed trust ! that can thus 
confidingly say, " This hour is mine with its 
present duty ; the next is God's, and when it 
comes, His presence will come with it." 

Anon. 



December 14. 349 



And as many as walk according to this rule, 
t>eace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel 
of God, — Gal. vi. 16. 

Lord, I have given my life to Thee, 
And every day and hour is Thine, — 

What Thou appointest let them be ; 
Thy will is better, Lord, than mine. 

A. Warner, 

j^EGIN at once ; before you venture away 
from this quiet moment, ask your King to 
take you wholly into His service, and place all 
the hours of this day quite simply at His disposal, 
and ask Him to make and keep you ready to 
do just exactly what He appoints. Never mind 
about to-morrow ; one day at a time is enough. 
Try it to-day, and see if it is not a day of strange, 
almost curious peace, so sweet that you will be 
only too thankful, when to-morrow comes, to 
ask Him to take it also, — till it will become a 
blessed habit to hold yourself simply and " wholly 
at Thy commandment for any manner of service." 
The "whatsoever" is not necessarily active work. 
It may be waiting (whether half an hour or half 
a lifetime), learning, suffering, sitting still. But 
shall we be less ready for these, if any of them 
are His appointments for to-day? Let us ask 
Him to prepare us for all that He is preparing 
for us. 

F. R. Havergal 



35° 



December 15. 



Return unto thy rest, O my soul ; for the Lord 
hath dealt bountifully with thee. — Ps. cxvi. 7. 

We which have believed do enter into rest. — 
Heb. iv. 3. 



Rest is not quitting 

The busy career ; 
Rest is the fitting 

Of self to its sphere, 

'T is loving and serving 

The highest and best ! 
'T is onwards, unswerving, — 

And that is true rest. 

J. S. DWIGHT. 



S a result of this strong faith, the inner life of 



Catherine of Genoa was characterized, in 
a remarkable degree, by what may be termed 
rest, or quietude ; which is only another form of 
expression for true interior peace. It was not, 
however, the quietude of a lazy inaction, but 
the quietude of an inward acquiescence ; not a 
quietude which feels nothing and does nothing, 
but that higher and divine quietude which exists 
by feeling and acting in the time and degree of 
God's appointment and God's will. It was a 
principle in her conduct, to give herself to God 
in the discharge of duty ; and to leave all results 
without solicitude in His hands. 




T C. Upham. 



December 16. 



35i 



Thou understandest my thought afar off. — Ps 
cxxxix. 2. 

Who can understand his errors ? cleanse Thou 
me from secret faults. — Ps. xix. 12. 

My newest griefs to Thee are old ; 

My last transgression of Thy law, 
Though wrapped in thought's most secret fold, 

Thine eyes with pitying sadness saw. 



ORD our God, great, eternal, wonderful in 



glory, who keepest covenant and promises 
for those that love Thee with their whole heart, 
who art the Life of all. the Help of those that 
flee unto Thee, the Hope of those who cry unto 
Thee, cleanse us from our sins, secret and open ; 
and from every thought displeasing to Thy good- 
ness, — cleanse our bodies and souls, our hearts 
and consciences, that with a pure heart, and a 
clear soul, with perfect love and calm hope, we 
may venture confidently and fearlessly to pray 
unto Thee. Amen. 



The dominion of any sinful habit will fearfully 
estrange us from His presence. A single con- 
senting act of inward disobedience in thought or 
will is enough to let fall a cloud between Him 
and us, and to leave our hearts cheerless and 
dark. 



H. M. Kimball. 




Coptic Liturgy of St. Basil. 



H. E. Manning. 



352 



December 17. 



The fruit of the Spirit is lave, joy, peace, long- 
suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tem- 
perance. — Gal. v. 22, 23. 

Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much 
fruit j so shall ye be my disciples. — John xv. S. 

O Breath from out the Eternal Silence ! blow 
Softly upon our spirits' barren ground ; 

The precious fulness of our God bestow, 

That fruits of faith, love, reverence may abound. 

G. Tersteegex. 

TS it possible we should be ignorant whether 
we feel tempers contrary to love or no? — 
whether we rejoice always, or are burdened and 
bowed down with sorrow? — whether we have a 
praying, or a dead, lifeless spirit ? — whether we 
can praise God, and be resigned in all trials, 
or feel murmurings, fretfulness, and impatience 
under them ? — is it not easy to know if we feel 
anger at provocations, or whether we feel our 
tempers mild, gentle, peaceable, and easy to be 
entreated, or feel stubbornness, self-will, and 
pride ? whether we have slavish fears, or are pos- 
sessed of that perfect love which casteth out all 
fear that hath torment ? 

Hester Ann Rogers 



December 18. 



353 



We trust in the living God. — i Tim. iv. 10. 

Thy secret judgment's depths profound 

Still sings the silent night ; 
The day, upon his golden round, 

Thy pity infinite. 

I. Williams. Tr. from Latin* 

TVTOW that I have no longer any sense for the 
transitory and perishable, the universe ap- 
pears before my eyes under a transformed aspect. 
The dead, heavy mass which did but stop up 
space has vanished, and in its place there flows 
onward, with the rushing music of mighty waves, 
an eternal stream of life, and power, and action, 
which issues from the original source of all life, — 
from Thy life, O Infinite One ! for all life is Thy 
life, and only the religious eye penetrates to the 
realm of true Beauty. 

J. G. Fichte. 

What is Nature? Art thou not the "Living 
Garment " of God ? O Heavens, is it. in very 
deed. He then that ever speaks through thee ; 
that lives and loves in thee, that lives and loves 
in me ? Sweeter than dayspring to the ship- 
wrecked in Xova Zembla ; ah ! like the mother's 
voice to her little child that strays bewildered, 
weeping, in unknown tumults ; like soft stream- 
ings of celestial music to my too exasperated 
heart, came that Evangel. The Universe is not 
dead and demoniacal, a charnel-house with spec- 
tres ; but godlike, and my Father's. 

T. Carlvle 

23 



354 



December 19. 



O Lord, be gracious unto us ; we have waited 
for Thee, — Is a. xxxiii. 2. 

A fid now, Lord, what wait L for? my hope is 
in Thee. — Ps. xxxix. 7. 

He never comes too late ; 

He knoweth what is best ; 
Vex not thyself in vain ; 

Until He cometh, rest. 

B. T. 

make mistakes, or what we call such. 
* * The nature that could fall into such mis- 
take exactly needs, and in the goodness of the 
dear God is given, the living of it out. And be- 
yond this, I believe more. That in the pure and 
patient living of it out we come to find that we 
have fallen, not into hopeless confusion of our 
own wild, ignorant making ; but that the finger 
of God has been at work among our lines, and 
that the emerging is into His blessed order ; 
that He is forever making up for us our own un- 
doings ; that He makes them up beforehand ; 
that He evermore restoreth our souls. 

A. D. T. Whitney. 

The Lord knows how to make stepping-stones 
for us of our defects, even ; it is what He lets 
them be for. He remembereth — He remem- 
bered in the making — that we are but dust ; the 
dust of earth, that He chose to make something 
JiMle lower than the angels out of. 

A- D. T. Whitney 



December 20. 



355 



Take no thought how or what ye shall speak : 
for it shall be given you in that same hour what 
ye shall speak. — Matt. x. 19. 



0U have a disagreeable duty to do at twelve 



o'clock. Do not blacken nine, and ten, 
and eleven, and all between, with the color of 
twelve. Do the work of each, and reap your 
reward in peace. So when the dreaded moment 
in the future becomes the present, you shall meet 
it walking in the light, and that light will over- 
come its darkness. The best preparation is the 
present well seen to, the last duty done. For 
this will keep the eye so clear and the body so 
full of light that the right action will be perceived 
at once, the right words will rush from the heart 
to the lips, and the man, full of the Spirit of God 
because he cares for nothing but the will of God, 
will trample on the evil thing in love, and be 
sent, it may be, in a chariot of fire to the pres- 
ence of his Father, or stand unmoved amid the 
cruel mockings of the men he loves. 



Just to follow hour by hour 

As He leadeth ; 
Just to draw the moment's power 

As it needeth. 



F. R. Havergal. 




G. MacDonald 



356 



December 21. 



Hast thou not known ? hast thou not heard, 
that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator 
of the ends of the earth, fainteih not, neither is 
weary? He giveth power to the faint j and to 
them that have no might he increaseth strength, — ■ 
Isa. xl. 28, 29. 

Workman of God ! oh, lose not heart, 

But learn what God is like ; 
And in the darkest battle-field 

Thou shalt know where to strike. 

F. W. Faber. 

"T^OR the rest, let that vain struggle to read 
the mystery of the Infinite cease to harass 
us. It is a mystery which, through all ages, 
we shall only read here a line of, there another 
line of. Do we not already know that the name 
of the Infinite is Good, is God? Here on earth 
we are as soldiers, fighting in a foreign land, that 
understand not the plan of the campaign, and 
have no need to understand it ; seeing well what 
is at our hand to be done. Let us do it like 
soldiers, with submission, with courage, with a 
heroic joy. Behind us, behind each one of us, lie 
six thousand years of human effort, human con- 
quest : before us is the boundless Time, with its 
as yet uncreated and unconquered continents 
and Eldorados, which we, even we, have to con- 
quer, to create ; and from the bosom of Eternity 
there shine for us celestial guiding stars. 

T. Carlyle 



December 22. 



357 



/ will wait upon the Lord, that hideth His fau 
from the house of Jacob, and I will look for Him* 
— Isa. viii. 17. 

What heart can comprehend Thy name, 

Or, searching, find Thee out ? 
Who art within, a quickening flame, 

A presence round about. 

Yet though I know Thee but in part, 

I ask not, Lord, for more : 
Enough for me to know Thou art, 

To love Thee and adore. 

F. L. Hosmer 

OTAND up, O heart ! and yield not one inch 
of thy rightful territory to the usurping in- 
tellect. Hold fast to God in spite of logic, and 
yet not quite blindly. Be not torn from thy 
grasp upon the skirts of His garments by any 
wrench of atheistic hypothesis that seeks only to 
hurl thee into utter darkness ; but refuse not tc 
let thy hands be gently unclasped by that loving 
and pious philosophy that seeks to draw thee 
from the feet of God only to place thee in His 
bosom. Trustfully, though tremblingly, let go 
the robe, and thou shalt rest upon the heart and 
clasp the very living soul of God. 

James Hinton 



358 



December 23. 



Thou, therefore, endure hardness, as a good 
soldier of Jesus Christ. — 2 Tim. ii. 3. 

Where our Captain bids us go, 
' T is not ours to murmur, " No." 

He that gives the sword and shield, 

Chooses too the battle-field 
On which we are to fight the foe. 



F nothing may we be more sure than this ; 



that, if we cannot sanctify our present lot, 
we could sanctify no other. Our heaven and 
our Almighty Father are there or nowhere. The 
obstructions of that lot are given for us to heave 
away by the concurrent touch of a holy spirit, 
and labor of strenuous will ; its gloom, for us 
to tint with some celestial light ; its mysteries are 
for our worship ; its sorrows for our trust \ its 
perils for our courage ; its temptations for our 
faith. Soldiers of the cross, it is not for us, but 
for our Leader and our Lord, to choose the field ; 
it is ours, taking the station which He assigns, 
to make it the field of truth and honor, though 
it be the field of death. 



Anon. 




J. Martineau 



December 24. 



359 



Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made 
us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the 
saints i)i light. — Col. i. 12. 

The souls most precious to us here 

May from this home have fled ; 
But still we make one household dear ; 

One Lord is still our head. 
Midst cherubim and seraphim 

They mind their Lord's affairs ; 
Oh ! if we bring our work to Him 

Our work is one with theirs. 

T. H. Gill 

\T 7"E are apt to feel as if nothing we could do 
on earth bears a relation to what the 
good are doing in a higher world ; but it is not 
so. Heaven and earth are not so far apart. 
Every disinterested act, every sacrifice to duty, 
every exertion for the good of " one of the least 
of Christ's brethren/' every new insight into 
God's works, every new impulse given to the love 
of truth and goodness, associates us with the 
departed, brings us nearer to them, and is as 
truly heavenly as if we were acting, not on earth, 
but in heaven. The spiritual tie between us and 
the departed is not felt as it should be. Our 
union with them daily grows stronger, if we daily 
make progress in what they are growing in. 

Wm. E. Channing 



360 



December 25. 



That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may 
be able to comprehend with all saints what is the 
breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and 
to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowl- 
edge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness 
of God. — Eph. iii. 17-19. 

O love that passeth knowledge, thee I need ; 

Pour in the heavenly sunshine ; fill my heart ; 
Scatter the cloud, the doubting, and the dread, — 

The joy unspeakable to me impart. 

H. BONAR. 

'T^O examine its evidence is not to try Chris- 
tianity ; to admire its martyrs is not to 
try Christianity ; to compare and estimate its 
teachers is not to try Christianity ; to attend its 
rites and services with more than [Mahometan 
punctuality is not to try or know Christianity. 
But for one week, for one day, to have lived in 
the pure atmosphere of faith and love to God, 
of tenderness to man ; to have beheld earth 
annihilated, and heaven opened to the prophetic 
gaze of hope ■ to have seen evermore revealed 
behind the complicated troubles of this strange, 
mysterious life, the unchanged smile of an eternal 
Friend, and everything that is difficult to reason 
solved by that reposing trust which is higher and 
better than reason, — to have known and felt this, 
I will not say for a life, but for a single blessed 
hour, that, indeed, is to have made experiment 
of Christianity. 

Wm. Archer Butler. 



December 26. 



361 



The peace of God, which passeth all understand- 
ing, shall keep your hearts and minds through 
Christ Jesus. — Phil. iv. 7. 

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. — Col. 
iii. 15. 

Drop Thy still dews of quietness, 

Till all our strivings cease ; 
Take from our souls the strain and stress, 
And let our ordered lives confess 

The beauty of Thy peace. 

J. G. Whittier. 

" HPHESE things write we unto you, that your 



A joy may be full." What is fulness of 
joy but peace! Joy is tumultuous only when it 
is not full ; but peace is the privilege of those 
who are " filled with the knowledge of the glory r 
of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." 
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose 
mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in 
Thee," It is peace, springing from trust and 
innocence, and then overflowing in love towards 
all around him. He who is anxious, thinks of 
himself, is suspicious of danger, speaks hurriedly, 
and has no time for the interests of others ; he 
who lives in peace is at leisure, wherever his lot 
is cast. 



Through the spirit of Divine Love let the 
violent, obstinate powers of thy nature be quieted, 
the hardness of thy affections softened, and thine 
intractable self-will subdued ; and as often as 
anything contrary stirs within thee, immediately 
sink into the blessed Ocean of meekness and 
Jove. G, Tersteegen 




J. H. Newman. 



362 



December 27. 



Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a sou ; 
and if a sou, then an heir of God through Christ. 
— Gal. iv. 7. 

Not by the terrors of a slave 

God's sons perform His will, 
But with the noblest powers they have 

His sweet commands fulfil. 

Isaac Watts. 



,UR thoughts, good or bad, are not in our 



v - y command, but every one of us has at all 
hours duties to do, and these he can do negli- 
gently, like a slave, or faithfully, like a true 
servant. u Do the duty that is nearest thee " — 
that first, and that well ; all the rest will disclose 
themselves with increasing clearness, and make 
their successive demand. Were your duties 
never so small, I advise you, set yourself with 
double and treble energy and punctuality, to do 
them, hour after hour, day after day. 



Whatever we are, high or lowly, learned or 
unlearned, married or single, in a full house or 
alone, charged with many affairs or dwelling 
in quietness, we have our daily round of work, 
our duties of affection, obedience, love, mercy, 
industry, and the like ; and that which makes 
one man to differ from another is not so much 
what things he does, as his manner of doing 
them. 




T. Carlyle. 



H. E. Manning 



December 28. 



363 



Now the God of peace make you perfect in every 
good work) to do His will, working in you thai 
which is well-pleasing in His sight. — Heb. xiii- 
20, 21. 

Be ready to every good work. — Titus iii. i. 

So, firm in steadfast hope, in thought secure, 
In full accord to all Thy world of joy, 

May I be nerved to labors high and pure, 

And Thou Thy child to do Thy work employ. 

J. Sterling 

"p>E with God in thy outward works, refer them 
to Him, offer them to Him. seek to do 
them in Him and for Him, and He will be with 
thee in them, and they shall not hinder, but 
rather invite His presence in thy soul. Seek 
to see Him in all things, and in all things He 
will come nigh to thee. 

E. B. Pusey. 

Nothing less than the majesty of God. and the 
powers of the world to come, can maintain the 
peace and sanctity of our homes, the order and 
serenity of our minds, the spirit of patience 
and tender mercy in our hearts. Then will 
even the merest drudgery of duty cease to hum- 
ble us, when we transfigure it by the glory of oui 
own spirit. 

J. Martineau 



3^4 



December 29. 



Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, 
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things 
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever 
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good 
report, — think on these things. — Phil. iv. 8. 

As lie thinketh in his heart, so is he. — Prov. 
xxiii. 7. 

Still may Thy sweet mercy spread 
A shady arm above my head, 
About my paths ; so shall I find 
The fair centre of my mind 
Thy temple, and those lovely walls 
Bright ever with a beam that falls 
Fresh from the pure glance of Thine eye, 
Lighting to eternity. 

R. Crashaw. 

A/TAKE yourselves nests of pleasant thoughts. 

None of us yet know, for none of us have 
been taught in early youth, what fairy palaces 
we may build of beautiful thought — proof against 
all adversity. Bright fancies, satisfied memories, 
noble histories, faithful sayings, treasure-houses 
of precious and restful thoughts, which care 
cannot disturb, nor pain make gloomy, nor pov- 
erty take away from us. — houses built without 
hands, for our souls to live in. 

J. Ruskin. 

For nowhere either with more quiet or more 
freedom from trouble does a man retire than into 
his own soul ; particularly when he has within 
him such thoughts, that by looking into them 
he is immediately in perfect tranquillity. And 
I affirm that tranquillity is nothing else than the 
good ordering of the mind. 

Marcus Antoninus 



December 30. 



365 



O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in 
himself : it is not in man that walketh to direct his 
steps. — Jer. x. 23. 

/ will direct all his ways. — Is A. xlv. 13. 



Come, Light serene and still I 
Our darkened spirits fill 

With thy clear day : 
Guide of the feeble sight, 
Star of grief's darkest night, 
Reveal the path of right, 

Show us Thy way. 



HERE had been solemn appointed seasons 



in Anna's life, when she was accustomed 
to enter upon a full and deliberate survey of her 
business in this world. The claims of each 
relationship, and the results of each occupation, 
were then examined in the light of eternity. It 
was then, too, her fervent prayer to be enabled 
to discern the will of God far more perfectly, 
not only in the indications given of it for her 
guidance through each day's occupations, but 
as it might concern duties not yet brought home 
to her conscience, and therefore unprovided for 
in her life. 



Anna, or Passages from Home Life, 



Robert II. of France. 




366 December 31. 



Forgetting those things which are behind, and 
reaching forth unto those things which are before, 
I press toward the mark. — Phil. iii. 13, 14. 

Yet I argue not 
Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot 
Of heart or hope ; but still bear up and steer 
Right onward. 

J. Milton. 

TT is not by regretting what is irreparable that 
true work is to be done, but by making the 
best of what we are. It is not by complaining 
that we have not the right tools, but by using 
well the tools we have. What we are, and where 
we are, is God's providential arrangement, — ■ 
God's doing, though it may be man's misdoing ; 
and the manly and the wise way is to look your 
disadvantages in the face, and see what can be 
made out of them. Life, like war, is a series of 
mistakes, and he is not the best Christian nor 
the best general who makes the fewest false steps. 
He is the best who wins the most splendid 
victories by the retrieval of mistakes. Forget 
mistakes ; organize viGtory out of mistakes. 

F. W. Robertson. 



INDEX OF AUTHORS 

OF THE PROSE SELECTIONS. 



PAGE 

Adorna, Catherine (1447-1510) 2S5 

Anna, or Passages from Home Life 77, 165, 200, 365 
Anonymous .... 116, 142, 143, 235, 254, 327, 348 
Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius (121-180) . 25, 34, 89, 
118, 161, 174, 177. 206, 274, 278, 364 

Arnold, Thomas (1795-1842) 228 

Augustine, St. (354-430) 27, 166 

Basil, Coptic Liturgy of St. (about 370) . . 351 

Barnes, Albert (1798-1870) 127 

Boethius (about 470-524) 326 

Boston, Thomas (1676-1732) 124 

Bronte, Charlotte (Mrs. Nicholls) (1816- 

1855) 277 

Brooke, Stopford A. (b. 1832) 90, 207 

Brooks, Phillips (b. 1835) ... 5, 86, 158, 211, 314 

Brown, James Baldwin (b. 1820) 291 

Browne, Sir Thomas (160 5-1682) 43 

Bushnell, Horace (1S02-1S76) 302 

Butler, Bishop Joseph (1692-1752) .... 22, 146 



3 68 



INDEX OF AUTHORS. 



PAGE 

Butler, William Archer (1814-1848) . 107, 360 
Buxton, Charles ( 1822-187 i) 82, 127 

Carlyle. Thomas (1795-1880) . 50, 132, 220, 275, 293, 
3*3, 3 J 6, 339, 343, 353, 35^, 362 
Carter, Thomas Thelluson, pub. 187 1 . . . 160 
Cecil, Richard (1748-1810) . . 13, 147, 148, 298 
Channing, William Ellery (1780-1842) . 111, 163 

192, 222, 359 

Charles, Mrs. Elizabeth (Rundell) (b. about 

1826) 8, 58, 103, 152, 269, 280, 336, 341 

Clarke, James Freeman (b. 18 10) . . . 212, 258 
Cobbe, Frances Power (b. 1822) . . 82, 113, 137 
Collyer, Robert (b. 1823) 65 

Dewey, Orville (1794-1882) .... 88, 178, 216 

Edwards, Jonathan (1703-17 58) 123 

Eliot, George (Marian Evans Cross) (1819- 

1880) 38, 46, 80, 177, 263, 277, 288, 297 

Emerson, Mary Moody (1774-1863) . . . . 131 
Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882) . . 20, 46, 91, 
105, 122, 148, 151, 155, 184, 206, 225, 293, 330 
Epictetus (1st and 2d centuries of Christian era) 44 
Erskine, Thomas (1788-1870) 313 

Faber, Frederick William (181 5-1863) . 32, 94, 97, 
146, 148, 160, 193, 239, 317, 340 
Fexelon, Francois de Salignac de la Mothe 
(1651-1715) . 41,42,55,80,81,84,97,124,135,149, 
180, 193, 226, 233, 247, 257, 264, 279, 291, 331, 347 

FlCHTE, JOHANN GOTTLIEB (1762-1814) . 104, 353 

Fox, George (1624-1690) no 



IXDEX OF AUTHORS. 



369 



PAGE 

Gannett, William Channing (b. 1S40) . . . 289 
Gelasian Sacramentary, compiled about 492 . . 217, 

246 

Gold Dust, pub. 1SS0 55, 147 

Greaves, James Pierrepoint (1 777-1 842) . . 21, 196, 

200, 227, 239, 266, 2S2, 31S 
Grou, Jean Nicolas (1731-1S03) . .12,24,40,47, 

94, 121, I36, 167. 226, 232, 256 

Guyon, Madame Jeanne-Marie ( 1648-17 17 ) . 119, 

141, 188, 196, 202, 319 

Hale, Edward Everett (b. 1S22) 8 

Hall, Bishop Joseph (1 574-1656) ..... 309 
Havergal, Frances Ridley (1S36-1S79) . 14, 51, 94, 

114, 145, 322, 349 

Hill, Rowland (1 744-1 833) 201 

HiNTON, James (1822-1875) . 194, 250, 271, 318, 557 
Hughes, Thomas (b. 1823) ....... 96, 164 

Humboldt, Karl Wilhelm von (1767-1S35) . 132, 

220, 233 

Juliana, Mother, written 1373 260 

Keary, Annie (1825-1879) . . . . 16, 117, 224, 282 

Keble, John (1792-1866) 33, 292 

Kelty, Mary Axxe,//^. 1S53 . 34, 62, 140, 172, 27S 
Kempis, Thomas a (1380-1471) . . 42,44, 135, 161, 

166, 18S 

King, Mrs Elizabeth Taber, written 1S56 . . 203 
Kingsley, Charles (1S19-1875) .... 151, 181 

Law, William (16S6-1761) . 7, 17, 59, 69, 79, 92, 109, 

173. 2 3°; 2 3§; 270. 2 72, 28l, 292, 304, 310, 223 



570 



INDEX OF AUTHORS. 



PAGE 

Leighton, Robert (1611-16S4) . . 74, 9S, 171, 1S9, 

2oS, 2 3 I 5 311, 345 

Longfellow, Samuel (b. 1S19) 219 

Luther, Martin (14S3-1546) . . 84, 140, 155, 311 



MacDonald, George (b. 1824) . 2, 61, 68, 79, 12S, 129, 

162, 202, 204, 216, 23S, 355 
Manning, Cardinal Henry Edward (b. 1S0S) . 10, 
iS, 39, 52, 76, 9.8, 101, 109, 126, 130, 150, 160, 170, 182, 
187, 229, 240, 252, 253, 296, 306, 332, 341, 346, 351, 362 
Martineau, James (k 1S05) . 1, 6, 54, 63, 95, 102, 
176, 1S6, 210, 241, 251, 290, 315, 35S, 363 
Master, The Divine, pub. about 1S50 .... 255 
Maurice, John Frederick Denison (1S05- 

1872) 28, 37, 139 

Melanchthon, Philip (1497-1560) 74 

Merriam, George Spring (b. 1S43) 7S, 115, 202, 244, 26S 

Miller, J. R 227 

Molinos, Miguel (1627- 1696) . . 133, 172, 197, 239, 

-S6, 301, 334, 345 

More, Henry (1614-16S7) 21,83 

Mountford, William (1816-1885) 171 

Newman, Cardinal John Henry (b. 1S01) . 5, 3S, 
56, 70, 100, 1S9, 250, 253, 273, 361 

Penington, Isaac (1617-1679) . 49, 75, 116, 125, 133, 
163, 1S6, 196, 236, 245, 299, 320, 327, 32S, 33S, 344 

Plutarch (about 45-120) 159 

Prentiss, Mrs. Elizabeth (Payson) (1S1S-187S) 264 
Pusey, Edward Bouverie (1S00-1SS2) . 4, 11, 15, 
22,45,48,67,77,85,93, 95. 106, 144- 168, 1S3, 185, 
199, 217, 225, 250, 318, 322, 327, 338, 342, 363 



IXDEX OF AUTHORS. 



371 



PAGE 



Renty, Gaston Jean Baptiste, Baron de ( 1611- 

l6 4 8 ) 335 

Richter, Jean Paul Friedrich (1763-1825) , 269 

Robbins, Samuel Dowse (1812-1884) .... 72 

Robertson, Frederick William (1S16-1S53) . 13, 

36, 53, 62, 96, ii2, 156, 190, 24S, 259, 267, 276, 297, 

308, 366 

Rogers, Mrs. Hester Ann (1756-1794) . . . 352 
Rossetti, Christina G. (b. 1S30) . . 23, 166, 213 
Ruskin, John (b. 1819) . 6, 9, 20, 25, 101, 246, 255, 

257, 30S, 364 

Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661) . 25, 49,143,340 

S., Mrs. H. W., pub. 1875 • 3h 7h 83, 99, 169, 184, 195, 

209, 237, 295, 301, 312, 333 
Sales, Francis de (1567-1622) . 29, 57,66, 79, 10S, 
146, 175, 1S3, 214, 215, 243. 249, 2S7, 319, 347 

SCHTMMELPENNINCK, MRS. MARY ANNE (1778- 

I856) 73, IlS, 122, 283 

Scupoli, Lorenzo (d. 1610) . . . 153. 214, 250. 309 
Sewell, Elizabeth Missing (b. 1815) .... 165 

Shaw, Samuel (b, 1635) 28S 

Sibbes, Richard (1577-1635) 141.340 

Smiley, Sarah F., pub. 1876 267 

Smith, John (1618-1652) . . . 60, 64, 154. 218, 529 

Spinoza, Benedict (1632-1677) 326 

Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn (1S15-1SS2) . 13S. 15-. 

191. 242, 294 

Stowe, Mrs. Harriet Beecher (b. 1812) 29s, 307, 324 

SWEDENBORG, EMANUEL (16SS-I772) . . 200, 272 

Swetchine, Madame Anne Sophie (1782-1857} 14S, 

287 



372 



IXDEX OF AUTHORS. 



Tauler, John (i 290-1361) . 26, 30, 70, 120, 223, 261, 

2 ^5, 303 

Taylor, Jeremy (1613-1667) ... 3, 10, 133, 326 
Tersteegen, Gerhard (1697-1769) . . 169, 189, 236, 

266, 304, 321, 361 

Theologia GERMANICA, written about 1350 . 254, 284 
Thom, John Hamilton, pub. 1S51 . 35, 87, 129, 134, 
179, 205, 221, 262, 300, 317, 328, 336, 337, 343 
Thoreau, Henry David (1817-1862) . 156, 170, 206 
Tryon, Thomas, pub. 1703 325, 342 

Union, Christian 305 

Upham, Thomas Cogswell (1799-1872) . . 7, 102, 
119, 198, 248, 282, 313, 324, 350 



Ware, Henry, Jr, (1794-1843) 276 

Wesley, John (i 703-1 791) 28S 

Whitney, Mrs. Adeline D. T. (b. 1824) . 265, 354 

Wilkinson, G. H., pub. .1870 234 

Wilson, Bishop Thomas (1663-17 55) .... 335 

Woman, A Poor Methodist (18th century). . 19 

Woods, Margaret, written 17 71 334 



Woolman, John (1720-1772) . 25, 73, 201, 263, 312 



INDEX OF AUTHORS 

OF THE POETICAL SELECTIONS. 



PAGE 

Ambrose, St. (340-397) . . 324 

Anonymous 13, 34, 49, 52, 63, 70, 74, 

75, 85, 118, 121, 140, 160, 161, 181, 193, 
200, 201, 217, 243, 244, 257, 262, 265, 267, 
271, 287, 293, 307, 316, 318, 331, 332, 358 
Anstice, Joseph (1808-1836) ... .... 45 

Arnold, Matthew (1822-1888) 25 

Auber, Harriet (1 773-1862) 143 

Austin, John (d. 1669) 112, 130 

Barr, Lillie E 248 

Barry, Henry H 31 

BONAR, HORATIUS (b. 1808) . . 44, 83, 229, 333, 360 

Borthwick, Jane (b. 1813) 170, 341 

Browning, Mrs. Elizabeth Barrett (1809-1861) 

131, 138, 261 

Browning, S. G. 54, 145 

Bryant, William Cullen (1 794-1878) .... 125 
Butts, Mary Frances (b. 1836) 5^ 



5 74 



INDEX OF AUTHORS. 



PAGE 

C,H.\V 303 

Carlyle, Thomas (1795-1SS0) 129 

C had wick, John White (b. 1840) . .... 153 
Charles, Mrs. Elizabeth (b. about 1826) . . . 115 
Clarke, James Freeman (1810-1888) . , . . 9 
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834) ... 92 

Coolidge, Susan 7, 53, 183, 296 

Corneille, Pierre 320 

Cotterill, Mrs. M. J. (d. 1S19) 122 

Cowper, William (1731-1800) .... 10, 305, 345 
Craik, Mrs. Dinah Maria (Mulock) (1S26- 

1888?) 211 

Crashaw, Richard (about 1610-1650) .... 364 

Davison, Francis ( 1 575—1618) 99 

Dessler, Wolfgang Christoph (1660-1722) 231, 321 
Doddridge, Philip (1702-1751) . . 2, 41, 154,342 
Dwight, John Sullivan (b. 1813) . . . . . 350 

Edmeston, James (1791-1867) 336 

Eliot, George (Marian Evans Cross) (1819- 

18S0) 86 

Elliott, Charlotte (17S9-1871) 136 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882) . . 128, 151, 

194, 220 

Evans, Albert Eubule (1868) 226 

Faber, Frederick William (1815-1863) . . 27,106, 
113, 178, 180, 184, 222, 292, 340, 356 

Farningham, Marianne 169 

Flemming, Paul (1609- 1640) .... 133,176,279 
Fkancke, A. H. ( i 663-1 727) 335 



INDEX OF AUTHORS. 



375 



PAGE 



Gannett, William Channing (b. 1840) . . . 152 

Gaskell, William (1837) 132 

Gedicke, Lampertus ( 1 683-1735) 192 

Gellert, Christian Furchtegott (17 15-1769) 280 
Gerhardt, Paul (1606-167 6) • • 7 2 , 187, 215, 216. 

223, 302, 309, 311, 344, 347 

German, From the 42, 48, 141 

Gill, Thomas Hornblower (b. 1819) ... 12, 359 

Gladden, Washington (b. 1836) 36 

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832) . 23 
Guyon, Madame Jeanne B. dela Motte (1648- 
1717) 348 



Hagenbach, Karl Rudolph (1801-1874) ... 147 

Hall, Mrs. Louisa Jane (b. 1802) 343 

Hamilton, Anna E. (about 1846-1876) .... 33 
Havergal, Frances Ridley (1836-1879) . . 18, 108, 

no, 163, 177, 259, 295, 355 

Haweis, Thomas (1732-1820) 212 

Heber, Reginald (1783-1826) 61 

Herbert, George (1 593-1632) . . . 62, 69, 76, 101 
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth (b. 1823) . . 204 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell (b. 1809) 1 

Hosmer, Frederick L. (b. 1840) 357 

Howells, William Dean (b. 1837) 94 

Hymns from the Land of Luther 107 

Hymns of the Ages 114 

Hymns of the Church Militant 325 

Hymns of the Spirit 120, 228 



Ingelow, Jean (b. 1825) 



50, 158, 168 



376 INDEX OF AUTHORS. 



PAGE 

Intelligencer, Christian 186, 263 

Irons, William Josiah (b. 1812) 328 

C. E 4 

Johnson, Samuel (1822-1882) . . . 29, 111, 164, 284 

Keble, John (1792-1866) . . 6, 16, 39, 56, 60, 79, 82, 
96, 105, 126, 146, 148, 191, 208, 250, 269, 286 

Ken, Thomas ( 1637-17 i t ) 30S, 322 

Kimball, Harriet McEwen .... 95, 258, 351 

Lange, Joachim (1670-1744) 20, 205, 235 

Larcom, Lucy (b. 1826) . 275, 297 

Latin MSS. of 15TH Century 51 

Longfellow, Samuel (b. 1819) . 5, 71, 97, 198, 227, 

282, 284 

Lowell, James Russell (b. 1819) .... 190, 221 

Lyra Apostolica 339 

Lyra Catholica 218 

Lyte, Henry Francis (1793-1S47) . 90, 142, 175, 241 

Milton, John (1 608-1 674) 149, 366 

Montgomery, James (1771-1S54) 273 

More, Hannah (1745-1833) 127 

More, Henry (1614-1687) 64 

Neale, John Mason (1818-1866) 319 

Neumarck, Georg (1653) 37, 124 

Newman, John Henry (b. 1801) ... 40, 117, 214, 

232, 253, 276 

Newton, Adelaide Leaper (1824-1854) ... 11 
Newton, John (1725-1807) 28, 116 



INDEX OF AUTHORS. 



377 



PAGE 

Packard, Caroline M 66 

Parsons, Thomas William (b. 1S19) . . . . 199 
Procter, Adelaide Anne (1825-1865) . 26, 188, 277 

puchta, heinrich 1 73 

Pythagoras (570-504 b. c.) 77 

Quarles, John (1624-1665) 346 

Richter, Christian Friedrich (1676-1711) . . 203 

Robert II. of France (972-1031) . ..... 365 

Rodigast, Samuel (1649-170S) 259 

Rosenroth, Christian Knorr von (1636-1689) 268 

Rothe, Johann Andreas (1688-17 58) .... 167 

Rutilius (1604) ... 281 

Saxby, Mrs. Jane Euphemia (b. 181 1) ... . 3 
Schiller, Friedrich von ( 1 759-1805) .... 225 
Schmolcke, Benjamin (1672-1737) . . . 301,326 

Scudder, Eliza . 30,88,246,315 

Sharpe's Magazine 32 

Shipton, Anna (1869) 156, 291 

Silesius, Angelus (1624-1677) 93 

Spitta, Carl Johann Philipp (b. 1801) 89, 283, 310 

Sterling, John (1 806-1844) 55, 260, 363 

Stowe, Mrs. Harriet Beecher (b. 1812) . . 73, 87 
Sutton, Henry Septimus (pub. 1854) . 51, 213, 247 

T.,B. . . . . 354 

Tennyson, Alfred (b. 1810) 272 

Tersteegen, Gerhard (1697- 1769) . . 19, 46, 179, 

230, 270, 289, 312, 323, 352 



373 



INDEX OF AUTHORS. 



PAGE 

Toplady, Augustus Montague (1740-17 78) . . 162 
Trench, Richard Chenevix (b. 1807) . 206, 219, 252, 

256, 285, 290 

Upham, Thomas Cogswell (1799-1872) ... 98 

Vaughan, Henry (1621-1695) 21, 209 

W., E 207 

Waring, Anna L^titia (pub. 1850) 8, 14, 24,43,47,80, 
137, 165, 171, 182, 195, 224, 236, 245, 298,329,334 

Warner, Anna B 65, 249, 349 

Watts, Isaac (1674-1748) . 84, 102, 172, 239, 338, 362 

Weissel, Georg ( 1 590-1635) 197 

Wesley, Charles (1708-1488) . . 35,57,68,78,100, 
103, 119, 123, 135, 139, 185, 189, 196, 237, 238, 
240, 255, 264, 278, 288, 294, 304, 306, 313, 327 
Whitney, Mrs. Adeline D. T. (b. 1824) . . . 314 
Whittier, John Greenleaf (b. 1808) . . 17, 22,59, 
67, 81, 109, 144, 150, 157, 166, 210, 
233, 2 34, 251, 299, 300, 330, 337, 361 
Williams, Isaac (1802-1865) .... 134,155,353 

Williams, Sarah (d. 1868) 174, 202, 242 

Winkler, Johann Joseph (1670— 1722) .... 104 
Wordsworth, William (1770-1850) . . . 38, 91, 

159, 266, 317 

Wotton, Sir Henry (156S-1639) 274 



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seems to cover its particular field thoroughly and most satisfactorily." — 
Saturday Evening Gazette. 

M This is a very graceful little volume of well-selected poems from all 
sources suitable to the seasons of Christmas, New Year, and Easter. 
The selections are made with unusual taste and discrimination ; and there 
probably exists no volume so happily adapted to the purposes for which 
it was compiled. The whole field of English poetry has been culled 
from to gather these graceful bouquets of spring and winter flowers. 
The selections range from Shakespeare down even to the magazine 
writers of the day." — New York Graphic. 

*'This little book will serve an excellent purpose. The want has 
often been felt of a collection of the poems which cluster around these 
festival days. We have often been impressed with the difficulty of put- 
ting the hand upon such poems, even when, as this book shows, there is 
a large amount of such material extant. A large number of anonymous 
poems, many of them of undoubted and some of traditional merit, have 
found a place in the volume, interleaved with poems by eminent writers, 
which have become classical." — Christian Register. 



Sold by all booksellers. Mailed, post-paid, on 

receipt of price, by the publishers, 

ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
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Treatment Date: Nov. 2005 

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